Untitled (grove), 2011
40 x 80 inches
Edition of 3

Sean McFarland makes images that are part theatrical gesture and part document. In a complex melding of techniques, the artist has created something innovative. Collaging impossible pictures - manipulating images either digitally or manually - and then taking a Polaroid of that image, the artist creates a multi-layered fabrication of sites that seem deceptively, engagingly authentic. The first San Franciscan being honored with a 2009 Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers for his work in this realm, McFarland thinks about how to incorporate the experiential nature of Polaroids into the natural world. His work begs the question: Can nature really exist in any natural state - or is it somehow all legislated?
