Travis MacDonald, Trance

Trance

Travis MacDonald

Envy6011
Level 2, 22 Garrett Street
Te Aro
Wellington 6011
Aotearoa (New Zealand)

22 July – 20 August 2022

Nature’s First Green is Gold (Nothing Gold Can Stay)

I won’t pretend to know all about it because I don’t, but since you asked, I’ll tell you that when Campbell found gold in Clunes, he didn’t tell anyone about it.

He kept it with other things that mattered. Some earrings. Some old notebooks. Things like that.

When he looked at the things he thought of his mother, and when he looked at his Gold he remembered his secret.

At night, he read that when they Fell from the great Garden, they fell UPWARDS, INTO LIFE. He couldn’t think of any reasons why this was a good or bad idea.

Yeats or one of the others said that the only thing worth writing about was love and death. Desire and Death? Well, Campbell knew that those are already the same things.

He polished his Gold and carved his wood and he make a special box to put it in. Then he didn’t have to think of his mother. He didn’t know if this was a good or bad idea either.

I’m not sure why you’re asking me. All the rest is irrelevant.

The thing about Gold is that it doesn’t rot, brown, singe, tear, or rust. You should be grateful about that. It might grow a little cloudy over time. So that’s what polishing is for. When things pass through the hands of someone else, they become more important. Nobody wants anything NEW. It all has to have had a little life before it. That’s why Gold is special, and that’s why I’m special. The only thing that’s better about Gold, is that the hue always stays the same. Gold is nature’s hardest hue to hold. I didn’t write that. I didn’t write any of this. I’m not God, you know. I’m not anyone. I didn’t even write this. Did you hear that old saying that we write because we hope that one sentence might survive us? Well, I hope mine isn’t this one.

— Meka van Traa

Trance is a series of paintings on altered canvases drawing references from crafts and social dynamics within counter-culture movements, such as communal living. Drawing upon his upbringing in rural Australia and New Zealand, MacDonald’s bizarre-yet-familiar works portray his poetic hand and the world as he sees it.

— Envy6011 (press release)

Travis MacDonald, Pick pocket, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 24 x 19 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Trance IV, 2022, oil on silk and linen, 46.5 x 31 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Pig feeding, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 18.5 x 23.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Trance I, 2022, oil on silk and linen, 41 x 31 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Magic trick, 2022, oil on linen, 96.5 x 101.5 cm. . Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Heirloom, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 21 x 17 cm. . Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Snoot, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 27.5 x 18.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Unusual pet, 2022, oil on linen, 14.5 x 18.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Feeding pig, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 19.5 x 17.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Trance II, 2022, oil on silk and linen, 41 x 31 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald,Trance V, 2022, oil on silk and linen, 41 x 31 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Flower chain, 2022, oil on linen on shaped stretcher, 31.5 x 41.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Center for ideas, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 17.5 x 23.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Dag, 2022, oil on linen on shaped wood, 24 x 23.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Trance III, 2022, oil on silk and linen, 41 x 31 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Envy6011

Travis MacDonald, Trance. Installation view, Envy6011, Wellington, July 2022. Photo: Cheska Brown

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