Ava McDonough. Revery

About

Finding moments of true revery is rare, but Los Angeles artist Ava McDonough has manifested a private portal and entry point into this magical, daydream-like state through oil painting. Her creative process is inherently meditative, and it begins and ends with the obsessive application of small, repeating brushstrokes using a single brush.

McDonough's diminutive marks are slightly textured, feeling something like small waves of frozen color, and her paintings are deemed complete once the entire surface of a work has been completely covered over with tiny strokes. Images of creatures and forms observed in nature emerge in the patterning that uniquely appeal to the artist’s innate predilection for detail and experiencing awe. Many works highlight the intricate cells and veins of moth and butterfly wings, while others document broad swaths of fish scales or repeating blades of grass in pristinely manicured lawns. As McDonough describes, “I’m not looking at a garden, I’m imagining it. The paintings are each a private performance piece - they’re my attempt to return to the land of Poetry, with a capital ‘P’, and then bring something back.”

Interestingly, a unique encounter with this poetic realm led McDonough to become an artist. In college, and while pursuing studies in environmental science, she had a severe accident and near-death experience that led to long episodes of hospitalization. High doses of pain medication and extended periods of being alone resulted in a weeklong dream-like state filled with intense and spiritually significant hallucinations. During this time, internal sermons, as she calls them, demanded her to pursue an artistic life and redirect. Despite initially pushing against this tall order, she eventually surrendered and now paints with a relentless fervor and devotion to her primary muse– Nature, in all of its infinite and detailed perfection and strangeness.