The Fall, 2020- 22
Entropy and vertigo
The Fall is Wit McKay’s most recent, ongoing, project. It is a direct reaction to the unrest of the last eighteen months. It began with the descent into COVID lockdown in March 2020. In Italy in early March, he was starting a Visiting Artist residency at The American Academy in Rome. There he witnessed Rome shut down precipitously and made an emergency evacuation, through JFK where he contracted COVID, a mild but frightening case.
The next week was the beginning of what became The Fall, shooting March 20, 2020, Dusk. The project is a direct response to the roiling of disasters that began with the pandemic: George Floyd, wildfires, political chaos, election subversion, fungible truth, the insurrection, seemingly repeating ad nauseum.
The themes of The Fall- entropy and vertigo- coalesced in 2020 Fall. The feeling of imminent disaster, collapse into chaos, was contrasted with an incredibly beautiful Fall season in the Berkshires. Physical balance was literally hard to maintain. imbalance and decay emerged as central to the work in this image. They were further explored through the next year and are ongoing in this body of work
These are large scale, 72"- 104", highly saturated prints of digital collage images. All of the pieces are fabricated in the computer from several (3 to 8) contiguous frames gathered in the field. Borders between the frames may be obvious, or hidden, or both, along one transition. This multi-frame panorama technique provides three advantages. First: proximity- the viewer can get closer and see more while showing the entirety of a scene otherwise unachievable: both close and far at once. Second: size- it produces very large files, up to 4GB in Photoshop, and prints, up to 106” with crisp detail. Last: perspective- the compositions are distorted in significant, at times disorienting but perhaps not obvious ways that would be optically impossible in a single frame. They incorporate both repetitions and voids, which may both engage and confound, the viewer.
Portfolio Examples with Annotations
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March 20, 2020: Equinox Dusk, 2021, digital collage/archival pigment print, 30.5” x 84”
This image is the prototype for The Fall. It was shot from a slightly raised point of view, allowing me to look down, almost to my feet, and out to the horizon, both at once. The equilibrium that is the Equinox is shown as night begins and darkness envelopes us. The light, and the world, appear indirectly, reflected nad upside down. It is a vision of our fall into the dark world of the chaos of 2020.
January Sixth: Pownal Dog Track Facade, 2021, digital collage/archival pigment print, 76” x 22.9”
The January Sixth: Pownal Dog Track images are at the core of The Fall. They present a dystopian vision of a defunct, fire ravaged racetrack. The disorienting perspective is purposeful. Bright direct sun, deep shadow, glinting razors of glass and the detritus of a bygone life are at once beautiful and frightening.
The Day After 2020, 2021, digital collage/archival pigment print, 56” x 31”
Shot Jan. 1, 2021, this is a view of our year-end bonfire, intended to mark the end of a horrible period with hopes for a new year's new beginning. It encapsulates my view of 2020 and unknowingly foreshadows the events five days later. A disturbing view with a torqued perspective is clear as is incisive detail, destructive beauty and vertiginous proximity falling towards danger.
2020 Fall, 2020, digital collage/archival pigment print, 27.9” x 104”
2020 Fall is the origin image of The Fall. Extremely large in scale it engulfs the viewer. Upon examination one becomes aware that there is no place to stand: the viewer is suspended above or falling into the water. The intervening tree exists on some other plane, falling away an element of chaos. The stream itself is off kilter, rushing towards us while tilting away vertiginously to the right and twisting outward on both ends. Out of balance it is composed of putrid iridescent water and surrounded by rot: a treacherous scene amid an incredibly beautiful Fall in the Berkshires.
Mr. Bloedel’s Pool, 2021, digital collage/archival pigment print, 31.7” x 76”
Mr. Bloedel's Pool is an image of a mid 20th century rich man's pool. The aggressive decay and exaggerated high point of view continue the themes of entropy and vertigo. The pool exemplifies the pit into which we have fallen.
Linville Spillway, 2021, digital collage/archival pigment print, 80” x 23.4”
Cascade 2, 2021, digital collage/archival pigment print, 72” x 30.5”
Of intimidating scale and indeterminate point of view, this image depicts a powerfully seductive but dangerous crash of water. This image is an out of body flying dream, survived only by magic.