Duncan McGillivray-Smith: The Anxiety of the Unseen

2 hours ago7 min read

Duncan McGillivray-Smith crafts a unique brand of psychological suspense, transforming the mundane into a stage for profound unease. His art, as seen in works like 'Hunt,' functions with the precision of a film director, isolating ordinary moments and imbuing them with a quiet, Lynchian dread.The terror is not explicit but implied, born from a subtle distortion of the everyday—a familiar scene viewed from an angle that reveals its inherent strangeness. This approach shares DNA with Hitchcock’s mastery of turning innocuous objects into symbols of fear and Hopper’s paintings, which are perpetually silent witnesses to unresolved narratives.McGillivray-Smith’s power stems from his restraint. He operates in the potent space of suggestion, using controlled compositions, lighting, and palette to frame moments ripped from time’s continuum.His inventiveness is not technical bravado but a novel form of visual storytelling, where the true plot exists in the shadows, just beyond the edge of the canvas. In a contemporary art scene often shouting for attention, his work is a masterclass in the whisper—a sophisticated, lingering provocation that doesn't dictate fear but carefully reconstructs reality to remind you it was always there.

#Duncan McGillivray-Smith

#art exhibition

#mysterious narratives

#uncanny art

#disquiet

#featured

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