Megan Aline V. 2
- Editor at Titan Contemporary Publishing
- 6 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Megan Aline is a contemporary painter and gallerist who has exhibited extensively in the American South. She is the co-owner of Robert Lange Studios, a notable gallery in Charleston, South Carolina which specializes in contemporary painting. Recent exhibitions include Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, multiple showings at Robert Lange Studios, Lemieux Gallery in Nola, Louisiana, City Gallery in Charleston, Hunter Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee, M.A. Doran gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Abend Gallery in Denver. Megan’s works remain in collections across the United States including with Kevin Kostner and she has been published by More Disruption, The New Art History, and American Art Collector.
With an experimental approach, Megan Aline paints silhouettes of the female form with images of wooded landscapes reminiscent of her native New England upbringing. She creates these silhouettes of interior actors with a vinyl layout and cutout which subtracts her detailed paintings from monochromatic backgrounds. Megan refers to these types of works as Inner Landscapes, which represent the oneness of women with nature and exemplifying their quiet strength. The landscapes painted within her silhouettes do not appear like Southern forests due to the cool fall climate and colorful foliage typical in the works. Rather, these woodlands and groves appear more familiar of cooler weather, such as New England and even her own home state of Maine. Hyper-realistic and photorealistic, the Inner Landscapes could easily be mistaken for cut-out photographs. These enchanted forests seem to empower the majestic and elegant women, who are usually represented as slender with strong jaw lines. Megan typically uses guests at her gallery and associates as models for her pieces.
These high contrasted paintings are dipped in rich hues of dark yet amber brown containing the bark of the trees. Consistently, we will find the colored air with crisp cool and warm colors ranging from blues to yellows seeping through the limbs of the trees like an apparitional sfumato. In a way, the smoky mist contained within Megan Aline’s landscapes, which seem like the aftermath of rain, could represent these figures as ghostly entities who are watchful of our movements, thoughts, and observations. Such ethereal figures bring up connotations and symbolism of the afterlife or perhaps bridging a connection between mortality of life and immortality of the deceased spirit. These conceptual representations of forested figures with their mystical application represent ancestors who whisper to us ancient wisdom for us to ponder upon.
Unnamed 1 (pictured above) represents a figure standing in what appears a counter-contrapasto position. The subject is leaned back as if relaxed yet confident. With a misty haze and orange tree leaves which almost appear like cherry blossoms in the pale painted light, the painting exemplifies rugged yet beautiful New England-inspired terrain with an inspired figure who dominates the space.
Inner Landscapes series represents a conversation with enchanted figures who seem larger than ourselves. Through layout detailed landscapes, Megan Aline creates contemporary mythological figures who not only grace us with their presence but also teach us the power of feminine qualities imbued with nature as one spirit. These figures with their detailed, serene forested landscapes dominate not only their surroundings through a generous amount of negative space, but also outside of the composition through their composed grace and elegance which speaks to a quiet strength and ancestral guidance.
