Xander Maclaren & Flora Aldridge: Duo Exhibition 

Exhibition Dates: Thursday, March 3 – Sun, March 27

Xander Maclaren makes art about systems. There is a logic to these pieces. A line is drawn, then another, each a slightly different version of the previous line. There is always a tension between logic and arbitrary choices. The early decisions in the creation of each piece have repercussions on the final product. Small defects are echoed and amplified through repetition. The result of each piece is determined by the initial formative decisions and the methodical process that then follows.

Flora Aldridge's Artist Statement:

The intricate complexity of memory and recollection is a large thematic aspect in my work. My art is both invasive and exposing of lives unknown and unconnected to my own. Loss of memory is something that terrifies me; leading me to find comfort in those of others’. I preserve lost and abandoned moments within my paintings.

The photographs that inspired this body of work were found in a thrift store. As I sorted through them, I began to rationalize their stories, constructing memories of my own, and fabricating connections between the photos and my own life. I was fascinated with how my mind was able to invent such memories, out of almost nothing, and feel such a connection to places and people that I have never known. These fictions and connections are what my art is based on.

The style of my work also relates back to the distortion of memory. I have isolated only the outline of the photos to be adapted into the painting as well as overlapping photos to reveal how memories are extremely fragile and manipulated each time you recall them. Overlapping the photos relates to my mind’s ability to create false memories in an attempt to connect the photos to something in my own life. Memories are an immense part of what makes up a person and my fear is that losing them would essentially lead to losing my whole self. Making these works are a way of proving that memories can be persevered.