Christina Mackie’s second solo show at Magnani begins with Petalhead (all works 2003), a simple slide animation of a flower with the suggestion of a face at its center slowly emerging against a background of shifting hues. Then there’s Big Trees’ Lament, a complex wooden structure cobbled together from bits of Canadian cedar, English larch, and Brazilian parana pine and protected by a corrugated-plastic pitched roof. (It also acts as a viewing platform for a second version of Petalhead, a video projection this time.) Nearby, My Depression—a bright gesso sculpture adorned with drooping black leather petals and a crystal ball—offers a surprisingly cheerful take on melancholy. Linking disparate works with recurring imagery, Mackie extends the complex personal iconography she’s elaborated in previous shows. Here, her alignment of different perceptual modes sets up an especially vibrant, intricate visual synthesis.
