Solaris, 2004
Jacquard Tapestry
79 x 112in. Edition of 9
In a 1991 interview, Alan Magee describes the early incarnations of his stone portraits as a catalyst, enabling a transition from illustration work to fine art: “I wanted to stand on a clear open road,” Magee says, “so my thoughts could move down it without distraction.” This clarity is a powerful current running through Magee’s work, and its immediacy defies description. Magee’s language is a transparent, serene poetics of light and texture, next to which verbal and textual expression seem designed to obscure rather than to reveal. The precisely woven blushes and speckles of Solaris transmit a gentle, meditative feeling, as if calmly ushering the viewer down Magee’s mental path toward enlightenment.
