Helianthus

Donald A. Mackay

The ghostly face of a sunflower is rendered in delicate, goldenrod-hued lines against a velvety black background to show the arterial networks of its veins and the honeycomb pattern produced by its seeds, as well as its wilting ligules. The power of Donald A. Mackay’s lithograph lies in the deliberate juxtaposition of the subject with its haunting execution: the flower named for its resemblance to our universe’s largest star is rendered in such a way that it appears solarized, as if the artist’s vision has been exposed to its namesake.

Known especially for his architectural renderings, Mackay had a steady hand and an eye for nearly imperceptible detail. Whether an image of a city, a landscape, or a single object, he finds subtleties and patterns that bolster the life of the composition.