Artist Statement

I’m interested in occupying a space where research and art can coalesce formally. My current works are alchemic, conceptual paintings. Each work is experimental in nature, exploiting chance. The butterfly effect states that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas. When I create, each action sequentially has an effect on how the next action is formed. Throughout this ritualistic process, I use gravity to create grid-like structures. As the paint drips, I can turn the painting to guide where it flows, but I can never fully control the outcome. This autonomous process becomes specific over weeks of creation, when I make the conscious decision to stop painting. To put it simply, I do not just paint pictures, I cook visual stimuli and observe the outcome.

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Committee

• Philip Govedare, Chair (Painting + Drawing)
• Helen O’Toole (Painting + Drawing)
• Ann Gale (Painting + Drawing)
• Mark Zirpel (3D4M)
• Zhi Lin (Painting + Drawing)

Commentary

Read the interview of Todd McKinney by James Harris.

Todd McKinney gives us a lot to think about when standing in front of his paintings. They are more than an investigation into the modes of abstraction. They probe and push against the limits of our definition of painting. McKinney situates his paintings into the realm of three dimensions by using unconventional materials to build up the surfaces. Fabrics, string, yarn, army men, Legos, copper bits punctuate the surfaces, adding texture. He uses these unconventional materials in addition to the gesture of a brush. These components are a strategy developed to offset a medical condition that sometimes prohibits the artist in his control of the painted mark. String and clothing are shaped and molded just like paint. McKinney uses this to his advantage in that it has allowed him to straddle the language of painting / sculpture with great success. In two of his works, McKinney uses the architecture of a corner. Two constructed canvases are placed perpendicular to each other creating a psychological space that physically extends four feet in two directions. In Algorithm 1637, I Think Therefore (2020), this butterfly effect creates a turbulent space of order and chaos. Lines and geometric forms give structure while drips of paint and visceral organic shapes adds the opposite effect of fluidity and turmoil. It comes together as if walking through the maze of your mind where synapses fire rapidly sending different signals to your visual senses. Algorithm 375, There is No Spoon (2020), another corner work is visually less disruptive but still packs in plenty to be deciphered. The central focus is a black diamond-shaped abyss that is peppered with brightly colored Legos, some real some created out of recast Crayola crayons. Surrounding this hole are reverberating black lines over an icy blue ground. The patterning creates an implied topographic landscape in which plastic army men populate the surface. The conflict becomes a war between the digital and artificial intelligence over mankind. Broader philosophical issues underlie McKinney’s works as can be seen in the painting Algorithm 1998, Heavy Mental. Presented directly on the wall, a cosmological stew of organic forms drifts over a dark ground. The fluidity of the brush work creates forms that float on the surface. The biomorphic forms created out of hues of purple and cyan suggests spiritual creatures or microbes. The overall composition can be interpreted as either a celestial or cellular vision.

At first consideration, these three works feel disparate, but they are united by a framework. McKinney’s paintings challenge the ways our eyes and brain create knowledge and how painting can transport you into place in which you decide what to decipher and take away.

– James Harris

Bio

Todd McKinney was born in San Francisco’s Bay Area in 1980. His father gave him an education in industrial painting throughout his childhood. In 2010, he fell ill with a rare disease of the brain, called pseudotumor cerebri. As his condition progressed, so did his practice. He received his BA from University of California at Berkeley in 2015, with a minor in conservation and resources. In 2017, he rebooted his practice with a focus on minimizing his carbon footprint. He began to upcycle industrial paint, wood panels, tools and other items he found necessary to his practice. His new work flourished into abstract paintings rooted in materials and formalist technique.

Group Exhibitions

• 2020 “Motif Hotel AIR Exhibition” Motif Hotel. Seattle WA
• 2019-2020 “Meany Center Art Exhibit” Meany Hall. Seattle, WA
• 2019 “Irreducible Forms” Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Seattle, WA
• 2019 “Summer Work Exhibition” Sand Point Gallery. Seattle, WA
• 2019 “MFA Student Scholarship Show, Allied Arts Association, Richland, WA
• 2019 “LMC Alumni Show” Los Medanos Art Gallery. Pittsburg, CA
• 2019 “Cobblestones & Lumber: UW x SFAI” Fort Mason. San Francisco, CA
• 2019 “Work in Progress Exhibition” Sand Point Gallery. Seattle, WA
• 2018-2019 “Meany Center Art Exhibit” Meany Hall. Seattle, WA
• 2018 “China Earth Day: Save the bay” China Basin Building. San Francisco, CA
• 2018 “Magic of Mirth” O’Hanlon Center for the Arts. Mill Valley, CA
• 2018 “Pancakes and Booze” Oakland Metro Opera house Theater. Oakland, CA
• 2014“Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)” Kroeber Hall. UC Berkeley. Berkeley, CA
• 2014 “Remedies: Art, Medicine and Disability” Kroeber Hall. UC Berkeley. Berkeley, CA
• 2013 “Terrestrial: Who you are, Where you are” Los Medanos Art Gallery. Pittsburg, CA
• 2012 “CCACA Annual Conference” Davis, CA
• 2012 “Los Medanos Student Art Show” Los Medanos Art Gallery. Pittsburg, CA
• 2011 “Los Medanos Student Art Show” Los Medanos Art Gallery. Pittsburg, CA
• 2010 “Los Medanos Student Art Show” Los Medanos Art Gallery. Pittsburg, CA
• 2009 “Los Medanos Student Art Show” Los Medanos Art Gallery. Pittsburg, CA

Projects

• 2018-2019 “Shades of Grey Series”- inspired by California’s fires; city centers are painted blanketed in smoke to bring awareness to the coming effects of climate change.
• 2017-2019 “Algorithm Series” — individual lessons on chaos and order through the use of repetition, technique and the ritual.
• 2014 “The Gospel of Yalebert” — a future publication; paintings and text combine to fill the hole between a philosophical approach and the culture of memes
• 2014 “ART SCHOOL X” — an experimental art space created for art majors at UC Berkeley
• 2013-2015 “The Wrong Way Home”- a sociological performance intended to evoke emotion on the San Francisco’s Bay Area BART trains

Curatorial Activities

2014 “Art School X” Co-Curator of artists in residency at UC Berkeley

Professional Awards / Fellowships / Residencies

• 2020 Make a Wish mural for Ella, Tacoma, WA
• 2020 Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• 2019 Excellence in Teaching Nomination, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• 2019-2021 Motif visiting artist, Motif Hotel, Seattle, WA
• 2019 Gallery at the Park MFA Scholarship, Allied Arts Association, Richland, WA
• 2019 Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• 2019 Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• 2019 Graduate Teaching Assistantship Award, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• 2018 Graduate Recruitment Award, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
• 2015 Inductee of Phi Beta Kappa Berkeley Chapter, Berkeley, CA
• 2012 CCACA Annual Conference Davis, CA
  2011 Presenter Community College Honors Research
• Symposium at Stanford University. Palo Alto, CA
• 2011 Best painting in show Los Medanos student show. Pittsburg, CA
• 2009 Best painting in show Los Medanos student show. Pittsburg, CA

Education

• Master of Fine Arts, University of Washington, 2020
• Bachelor of Arts, Practice of Art, Minor Conservation and Resources, University of California, Berkeley, 2015
• Associate of Arts, Fine arts with Honors, Los Medanos College, 2013
• Associate of Arts, Liberal Arts, Arts and Humanities with Honors, Los Medanos College, 2013