Todd McKie: Handmade Paper

On View: February 2 – March 2, 2024
Reception: Friday, February 2, 5 – 7pm

Todd McKie (1944 – 2022) began his handmade-paper-making endeavors in the mid-1980s at Rugg Road in Somerville. Rugg Road, started by Bernie Toale and Joe Zina as a publishing company, often invited local artists to use their facilities and explore the tactile process of making hand-made paper. During a studio inventory review following McKie’s death in 2022, five paper pieces were discovered.

Galisteo

1987, handmade paper, 46×80”

Canine Confidential

1987, handmade paper, 53×79”

Fish Story

1986, handmade paper, 36×31”

The Fun Begins

1986, handmade paper, 22×30”

untitled

c. 1987, handmade paper, 40×108”

Todd Mckie

Admired by peers, collectors, and curators for his painterly invention and wit, McKie's work is, in fact often less understandable than it seems at first blush. Enveloped in a risible atmosphere of absurd predicament, the dilemmas of McKie's protagonists resist straightforward interpretation.

Avidly collected, McKie's works are held in many private and corporate collections and in the public collections of major museums throughout the region.