Rachel Maclean

Rachel Maclean (b.1987) is a Glasgow-based multi-media artist who has rapidly established herself as one of the most distinctive creative voices in the UK. Creating baroque, hyper-real worlds using performance, green-screen technology and computer animation, Maclean spins razor-sharp contemporary fables that deal in timeless themes such as sexuality, power, innocence and corruption. She makes glowing, hyper-saturated videos using green screen technology and computer animation. Producing all the costumes, make up and sets and playing all the characters herself, Maclean creates disturbing yet hilarious narratives that blend appropriated present day pop cultural material with a multitude of narrative references.

In Germs (2013), narratives of female stereotypes, pseudoscience and promised happiness clash, with violent consequences. This three-minute film produced by Random Acts Channel 4 has been edited into short sections, appearing as an ‘advert break’ every time Pathological Theology loops. During our annual commission For a Partnership Society, hrm199 added sound and animation over Germs when it is paused between loops. This includes the title of the exhibition in Morse code, Garrett Lissi’s E8 Model and footage produced using Google’s ‘Deep Dream Generator’.

Recent exhibitions include Too Cute! Sweet is About to Get Sinister, curated by Rachel Maclean, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (2019), Rachel Maclean: The Lion and The Unicorn, National Gallery, London (2018), Annual Commission, Zabludowicz Collection (2018), Spite Your Face in Chiesa Santa Caterina, Alchemy Film and Arts Scotland+Venice (2017), Wot u : - ) about? HOME, Manchester and Tate Britain (2016), We Want Data! Artpace San Antonio, Texas (2016), British Art Show 8 (2015), Ok, You’ve Had Your Fun, Casino Luxembourg (2015), Please, Sir…, Rowing, London (2014), The Weepers, Comar, Mull (2014) and Happy & Glorious, CCA, Glasgow (2014)