Press Release                                                                                               January 27, 2010

Galerie de la Ville presents in February and March an exhibition of mixed media paintings by artist Scott MacLeod entitled Meeting with the Goddesses.

Meeting with the Goddesses is a chapter title I have taken from Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, as this body of work deals with several themes centered on the sacred feminine, mythology, the archetypal mind, temples and funerary objects.  The first is the theme of the mystery of life, and as part of that mystery, the search for meaning embodied by the notion of goddesses—a single or multiple “source of all things.” I am interested in the spiritual process of asking the source/creator in order to manifest creation—whether through an abundant harvest or victory in war.

It is difficult to remove spirituality and explorations of the divine from the formal strictures and mandates of religion; thus, another theme explored in the exhibition will be the dualities of creation and destruction that are part of our concept of the divine, and which are exercised by human beings in the practice of religion. Many goddesses have creative and destructive powers. These are embodied in the terrible fury of the god of War, the life-giving fecundity of ancient Venus figurines, the breathtaking and abundant tableaux of life forms in cave drawings, depictions of human sacrifice or works that honor and venerate the First Nations, Celtic, Nordic, and Greek goddesses.

Walking into the exhibit space will give the observer the experience of walking into a kind of temple celebrating the feminine goddesses of antiquity, but the subjects I’ve painted are present day living people who in my view, reflect the characteristics of these ancient archetypes in a contemporary society. The aim of this work is to investigate the dichotomy between the sexes and address the reality of male dominance (patriarchy) in order to make a shift in attitudes, which in turn will balance the masculine and feminine.

In a time of social disorder and imbalance, this work explores the feminine and celebrates that shift in order to bring about a consciousness we have lost from the ancients. It would seem that our present construct is failing and that the world’s disorder reflects an imbalance that is destroying the very essence of life.
This exhibition is dedicated to my mother Joy MacLeod 1935-1977: « To Know her was to love her »

Scott MacLeod

The opening reception for this exhibition will be held on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 from 8 to 10 p.m. The artist will be present.

The exhibition will run from Thursday, February 11, to Sunday, March 14, 2010 at Galerie de la Ville, located in the lower level of the Dollard Cultural Centre, at 12001 De Salaberry Boulevard, in Dollard des Ormeaux. Opening hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12 to 4 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 2 to 5 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. For further information, or to arrange free, guided tours of this exhibition for your group of six or more people, please call 684-1012, extension 298.