Ricky MacH
Your paintings often seem to move between reality, dreams, and inner states of mind. How do you usually recognize the moment or image that becomes the starting point for a work?
At times there’s a tangible reference for the painting itself. When this happens I choose whether to utilize the full reference or if preferred, incorporate portions of the reference. Most times, it’s the intangible – mood, instinct, the imagination. Either way, I allow the reference to influence or the imaginative to take shape and then act accordingly to execute a painting.
Ricky MacH | Innocence | 2022
You describe each painting as an interpretation of a particular phase of consciousness. What does “consciousness” mean to you within your artistic practice?
Consciousness refers to the ability for me to ‘allow’ as opposed to inhibiting. Consciousness ‘allows’ me to first see the world for what it is. Consciousness also ‘allows’ me to be aware of what’s going on in my own mind and how I can find a place for it. I guess with that being said, consciousness is the means for me to be aware and acknowledge that I have something to offer.
Ricky MacH | Three…, Not Of A Kind | 2022
Many of your figures have X-shaped eyes, mask-like faces, or stitched mouths. What do these recurring symbols represent for you?
These X-shapes, mask-like faces and stitch like orifices are motifs to represent the variables and constants that are present within the consciousness from where they come from. Their usage then reflects that consciousness in accordance to the theme of each painting.
Your works combine playful visual language with darker emotional undertones. How do you balance humor, tension, and psychological depth in your paintings?
This is a really good question. Honestly, just like in our reality – there are at times no means to balance all of these things. That is a thing that must be acknowledged. When there is no means for balance, they all must exist how and where they are – with or without resolve. I have made attempts to compartmentalise these varieties from another but a lot of their particulars still find each other. For example, within the painting ‘Greyscale’, it presents itself as a fair microcosm of the world and the various niches and environments within but there is also an undertone of alienation and tension within the ‘cohesion’ of the painting, might I say. Notice how some of the entities fit neatly within their environments while others seem to scurry and haste to find a place within a world that does not accept or further does not acknowledge them. Therefore, yes there may be harmony and inclusion within the painting but for whom and where if not everyone and why? Questions that we often ask within society.
Ricky MacH | Greyscale | 2022
Can you tell us more about your brush, finger, and knife technique? How did this method develop, and what does each tool allow you to express?
The BFK technique is a method that I began to explore within my initial goings of becoming a painter. When I was developing a means to interpret my themes, I had concluded that it would be suitable to utilise more than one tool to apply the paint to the canvas. The brush came first, then came the finger. The final of the three was the knife. Using all of these tools allow the paint to behave upon the canvas in a particular fashion – which adds more depth to the expression of the themes within.
Ricky MacH | The Wayward Four | 2022
How has growing up and working in The Bahamas influenced your sense of color, rhythm, imagination, or emotional atmosphere?
Definitely the Bahamian Junkanoo community has played a key role with all of its intentional colour and themes of variety, expression and inclusion. Beyond that, growing up with the television and the influences from it has been a key component. The television has so much pull on daily life that I may still not even be aware of. Overall, I’m still assessing these influences as I mature more not only as an artist but as an adult.
Ricky MacH | Yes | 2022
Some of your paintings suggest characters, creatures, or beings from an unknown world. Do you see them as self-portraits, symbols, dreams, or independent personalities?
Independent personality, that’s an interesting phrase. I’ve never thought to put it that way but I suppose that that is certain – given that my work can be seen as a mirror for the viewer. And within that viewer there are facets of themselves just as the paintings have facets within. So yes, they can be interpreted as independent personalities, but I will not limit it to just those. They can also be interpreted as dreams, a reflection or a symbol of something that is ubiquitous or personally sentimental.