‘The one true reality under capitalism is paying to live,’ says Alastair MacKinven, ‘and that is the harshest reality, which forces one to do all kinds of horrors, like paint for example.’ MacKinven’s abstract canvases form a critical language with which to deconstruct ideas of power and worth within the art system – the role of the artist, how art is displayed and mediated to the viewer by galleries, and how art is transacted through the market and mass media. South of Heaven is part of a series titled Abstract Capitalist Realism: a reference to the German Capitalist Realist movement, spearheaded by Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke during the 1960s, which sought to parody Pop Art’s commodity fetishism. MacKinven directly examines the interplay between art and economics: the ornamental motifs repeated throughout these works are taken from the data protection patterns that line the envelopes of his utility bills and bank statements. MacKinven sardonically appropriates the genre of decorative painting in order to expose the dilemma of artists striving for creative integrity while entangled with the practical realities of the art economy.

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