October 2002, No. 129
“Melville McLean: Recent Photographs: Northeast by Southwest, Alexandre Gallery”
Sarah Douglas

Melville McLean’s lush colour landscape photographs, of coastal Canada, inland Maine, and the Nevada desert are meticulously composed, tending to prompt detailed formal analyses (Aprile Gallant’s catalogue essay explains: “The rock in the lower right corner anchors the composition, leading in a sweeping diagonal that intersects with the round patch of ice in the mid-ground…” and so on). Ms. Gallant writes that McLean’s photographs embody two aspects of art history: the sweeping vistas of 19th-century landscape painting meet the formal rigour of 20th-century abstraction. Perhaps most appealingly, McLean’s is a grounded vision: presented with a mountain, he forcuses on the earth from which it rises, drawing our eye to a patch of scrub. Note to purists: these photographs are tweaked on the computer, hence their super-sharp look. McLean finds eye-pleasing order in nature’s chaos. Widely shown in his home State of Maine, this is his second solo New York show and his first with Alexandre Gallery (until 29 October).