The derelict structures McGinnis paints are surrounded by topiary gardens of a misdirected beauty, suggesting man's infallible desire to control nature. The once luxurious ocean liners she renders have great steel panels salvaged from their broken hulls, where they sit cracked and beached in a deceptively beautiful marshland. The disordered topiaries surrounding their dilapidated subjects are a thriving deep emerald green. With her lush hand, McGinnis is interested in laying bare two great forces in the universe: electromagnetism and gravity. The formidable intelligence and energy of man, and what he builds and tries to control, is all for naught in this macro world view. To examine her ideas furtherοΏ½. she dissects and magnifies the topiary sections. These are the Unified Field Theory works: a metaphorical theory of everything. In these micro-views McGinnis places the viewer directly over a circular symmetry of dazzling insects that stand in for precious jewels. When you see this exhibition of precise paintings you'll wonder if you are seeing a close up of an atom or the universe itself. McGinnis recently won the Richard H. Driehaus prize for representational art in the Art Loop Open.
