“Multicolored,” “jarring,” and “always over the top” aptly describe the worlds created by the Scottish multimedia artist Rachal Maclean. Her films are full of oddly exaggerated characters living in fantasy worlds. Wearing elaborate costumes and makeup, the artist plays most of the roles herself. Rachel Maclean’s work subsists on ingenious allusions to fairy tales and fables. Her brilliant and scathing contemporary satires are directed at themes such as nationalism or feminism. They combine historical settings with an incisive, amusing view of modern lifestyles in a digital space that shifts back and forth between harmony and horror. Accompanying the brightly colorful materials of her latest artwork are five essays by Anette Hüsch, Matthew Shaul, Nina Power, Joshua Paul Dale, and Muriel Meyer, which present insightful views of Maclean’s oeuvre.

RACHEL MACLEAN (*1987, Scotland) studied painting and drawing at the Edinburgh College of Art and at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her works have been shown in many solo shows and at film festivals. Maclean is the winner of the 2014 Margaret Tait Award, and represented Scotland at the Biennale di Venezia in 2017. Today she lives and works in Glasgow.