Born in Aberdeen in 1967, video artist Kenny Macleod first studied French and Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh before moving to London where he attended Goldsmiths College from 1996 - 99. During his time there, he received the Hamad Butt Award for Fine Art. From 2000-01 Macleod was resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. He lives and works in London, and is currently an associate lecturer at the London College of Fashion.

Macleod uses video to explore perceptions of reality in imagery. By using film and photography, mediums that are supposed to offer the viewer a truth, Macleod presents a reduced version of a story – sometimes by deliberately removing the narrative, or offering objects as external clues, leaving one to interpret and embellish the story in different ways. For example, in the piece Robbie Fraser (1999), the film’s repetitive nature is initially irritating, then oddly compelling. At the beginning of each section, he introduces himself. However each version of the story is different, revealing a little more about the character each time, sometimes offering contradictory information to previous statements. It presents a mixture of fact and fiction, offering no evidence to which is which. In Twin Sisters (1998), one sees a more direct deception as Macleod dances to music, using a mirror to complete the image and create a perfectly coordinated routine with his reflected self.

Selected recent exhibitions include The Wonderful Fund Collection Le Musée de Marrakech/Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 2006; Chantal Joffe & Kenny Macleod Bloomberg Space, London; Identities Manchester City Art Galleries, 2004; Jim, Jonathan, Kenny, Frances and Sol Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam; Rendez-Vous Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, Time is Free Apex Art, New York, 2002; the British Art Show 5, 2000.

Made in Britain Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection 1980-2010,China federation of Literary and Art Circles Publishing Corporation 2010. ISBN 978-7-5059-7014-4.

Glossary

  • Contemporary

    Existing or coming into being at the same period; of today or of the present. The term that designates art being made today.

  • Film

    A transparent, flexible plastic material, usually of cellulose acetate or polyester, on which light-sensitive emulsion is coated, or on which an image can be formed by various transfer processes.

  • Video

    Images recorded on videotape or on optical disc to be viewed on television screens, or projected onto screens. The medium through which these images are recorded and displayed.