The bleak quietness of William MacDonnell’s canvases is strangely threatening, and this is quite deliberate. The scenic painting titled Tragedy On A Country Road marks a place where Canadian soldiers, while driving, hit a landmine in the former Yugoslavia. Even though the viewer cannot help but pick up on the threat, it is obscure and hidden much like the landmines our soldiers often encounter while overseas.
At first glance, MacDonnell’s work is idyllic, with no signs of violence. What appears as a quiet winter landscape in the artwork titled In A Forest Near Smolensk is in fact the same place […]
