Niall McClelland grew up in Toronto, spent many of his summers in Northern Ireland, went to school in Vancouver and eight years later returned to Toronto where he now lives and works. McClelland’s vibrant abstractions recall the unpredictable patterns of tie-dye, Rorschach tests, and computer static. Inspired by a DIY-punk aesthetic and a background in graphic design, the artist exploits the imperfections inherent in easily accessible materials and reproduction techniques, such as ink and photocopying. His work has been published in Adbusters, Arkitip, Color, Design Anarchy, Hunter and Cook, I-Live-Here, Lowdown, Made, and The Walrus among others.
Recent exhibitions include “Hot Sauce” at Clint Roenisch (Toronto), “In The Dark” at Eleanor Harwood (San Francisco); Resurrection at Cinders Gallery (Brooklyn); Sails, Cubes and Folds (CR). McClelland was also included along with Jeremy Jansen, Ellsworth Kelly and Richard Serra in the group show Black To Back And Light at Clint Roenisch in 2009. Of that exhibition the Globe and Mail surmised that “..the works of Jansen and McClelland are plenty gritty enough to hold up against the Serras and the Kelly. Indeed they demonstrate the same kind of uncompromising bravura.”
Recent exhibitions include “Hot Sauce” at Clint Roenisch (Toronto), “In The Dark” at Eleanor Harwood (San Francisco); Resurrection at Cinders Gallery (Brooklyn); Sails, Cubes and Folds (CR). McClelland was also included along with Jeremy Jansen, Ellsworth Kelly and Richard Serra in the group show Black To Back And Light at Clint Roenisch in 2009. Of that exhibition the Globe and Mail surmised that “..the works of Jansen and McClelland are plenty gritty enough to hold up against the Serras and the Kelly. Indeed they demonstrate the same kind of uncompromising bravura.”
