I was flipping through a recent issue of DAZED and my interest was piqued by an article about the shortlist for the Film London Jarman Award, something that’s been given out for the past five years in the name of the late artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman to experimental artist filmmakers working well outside of the mainstream. The £10,000 award was bestowed last month upon artist/filmmaker John Smith.

The image that really caught my eye though, was a small still (top) from Scottish artist Rachel Maclean‘s short film “Lolcats.” It sent me straight to Google to investigate further.
 

 
Maclean describes her work as “artificially saturated visions that are both nauseatingly positive and cheerfully grotesque.” She says her inspiration comes from the notion of unifying “the aesthetic of The Dollar Store, YouTube, Manga, Hieronymus Bosch and High Renaissance painting with MTV style green screen and channel changing cuts.” I’d add to that a hefty dollop of Lisa Frank, Mike Kelley, Pierre et Gilles, Leigh Bowery, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, Niki de Saint Phalle, The Mighty Boosh, and even Cindy Sherman, as Maclean portrays all of the characters in her freaky hallucinogenic menagerie herself. I suspect that Tom Rubnitz’s infamous “Strawberry Shortcut” (which became a viral video decades after his death) was another thing that inspired her singular aesthetic. Maclean’s work feels very fresh to me. She’s got a truly 21st century aesthetic.

Why would anyone want to sit through a boring four hour Matthew Barney movie when they could get stoned and watch Rachel Maclean’s “Lolcats” on YouTube instead? You know I’m right. She makes all the props and the costumes. She even designs the make-up herself. Matthew Barney farms that stuff out. I can think of all kinds of reasons why I prefer her work to his. I like how personal her vision is. Does he play all the roles in his films? Nope.

Look at the rich detail in this still (a larger version can be seen here). This sort of work would take an absolutely heroic effort to realize.
 

 
She’s really young, born in in 1987. If Maclean’s art is this fully-developed at the age of 26, and she’s willing to work as hard as she (clearly) does, she’s got an incredibly bright future ahead of her. If I was going to do a “top ten of 2013” thing, I think Maclean’s work would be at the top of the list. I’ve been waiting for something “new” like this to come along, I just didn’t know it. Maybe you have, too?

Rachel Maclean, you are my new favorite artist.
 

 

“The narrative centres on a young female protagonist, presenting her in moments of intrigue, fear, metamorphosis and decay. Journeying through this erratic environment she encounters a bejewelled Katy Perry discussing dental hygiene with an aristocratic cat, stumbles upon an army of hostile feline cyborgs and is surgically dissected by a gothic physician.”

“Germs” a three-minute short for Channel 4’s “Random Acts.” Dissects and distorts advertising aimed at women.
 

“Inspired by the Technicolor utopias of children’s television, “Over The Rainbow” (2013) invites the viewer into a shape-shifting world inhabited by cuddly monsters, faceless clones and gruesome pop divas. Shot entirely using green-screen the film presents a computer generated environment, which explores a dark, comedic parody of the fairytale, video game and horror movie genres.” (This is a short edit of a 40 minute piece)

“I Dreamed A Dream”: Susan Boyle gets a death metal make-over in this truly bonkers piece. This earlier video is somewhat cruder than Maclean’s later work and you can see the clear leap forward in quality when she was able to get funding, move into better working situations and find her collaborators.
 

The Skinny talks to Rachel Maclean about her art and you get to see her in action.