BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting
Michael McManus' abandoned landscapes explore the effects of developing technologies on society's perceptions of the romantic image. Through appropriations of vast collections of sources, references from science-fiction, historical painting and documentary photography are transformed within an entirely new context. Juxtapositions between illusionistic and abstracted space emerge as intricately depicted forms are torn apart to reveal layers of gestural marks and glazes. Multiple applications of paint are exposed as McManus strips back elements of his paintings and it is in this sense that he presents the physical components of his work. The environments depicted share aesthetics with constructions of virtual space where the representation of a landscape appears on the brink of collapse.