""Ataraxia" is an ancient Greek philosophical term for a state of tranquility that is achieved by detaching from external desires and concentrating attention on inner peace. While these paintings project a sense of calm, there is also a feeling of disquiet. The normal and anomalous overlap and become difficult to tell apart. That tension animates these peculiar images, in which figures and shadows, flatness and space, are equally important."
"In "Late Day in a Small World" (2023), McGillivray-Smith depicts a stage-like outdoor space in which the ground takes up most of the picture plane. Along the top edge is a thin pink halation line that represents the horizon. Below, on the blue surface, two men and a woman are standing around a tree that divides the plane vertically; behind it is a black and white cow known as a Holstein Friesian."
Seven oil paintings present featureless figures whose large blue shadows interact with simplified landscapes to blur normal and anomalous. Two small works contrast with five larger canvases that elevate everyday activities—skiing, crosscut tree felling—into enigmatic scenes. "Late Day in a Small World" (2023) stages a broad blue ground, a thin pink horizon line, three pajama-clad figures, a dividing tree, and a Holstein Friesian, set against a distant mountain and dramatic sky. Animated gestures, stage-like visibility of players and props, and unexpected details such as a snake produce a calm surface overlaying an underlying disquiet.
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