Scott McFarland is a Canadian artist with an international reputation, his works are included in public collections such as the MoMA, J. Paul Getty Museum, National Gallery of Canada, SFMoMA, Walker Art Center, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2014, the Art Gallery of Ontario exhibited McFarland’s solo exhibition Snow, Shacks, Streets, Shrubs which surveyed his recent work, and other major surveys were presented at the National Gallery of Canada (2009) and the Vancouver Art Gallery (2009). McFarland layers individual exposures using computer technology to create photographs of exquisite and crystalline detail. These highly constructed images are often shot over a long period of time, displacing the notion of a photograph as a snapshot of one decisive moment. Highlighted are a selection of newly available works at the gallery. 

Lagoon depicts of a panoramic view of a dilapidated estate, unkempt foliage and a murky pool that is evaporating under the heat of the sun. Deterioration is a recurring theme in McFarland’s work, a metaphor for duration and the entropic processes of time.

Filtering, Peter Harrison Changing Water Pump Filter consists of multiple photographs taken over a period of time, and stitched together to create this picture of a garden. This artwork is also part of the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection.

Opuntia Pitteri consists of layered exposures of a cactus taken throughout the day. The lighting of the cactus and sky reveal the durational nature of the photograph, otherwise seamlessly stitched together. This photograph has been exhibited at the National Gallery.

Curating, Desert Garden, Huntington Botanical Gardens, Pasadena, California is shot in San Marino, California, depicting an incredible array of cacti curated into a single frame, with contradicting shadows revealing part of the process.