Megan Ellen MacDonald - "What Doesn't Kill You"

 The assumption that something is unthreatening because it is small, soft, round, subordinate, is a dangerous assumption in and of itself. If we believe something is powerless, its capacity to influence us grows insidiously. In her latest exhibition at Hashimoto Contemporary San Francisco, What Doesn’t Kill You, Megan Ellen MacDonald explores femme objectification through the lens of cuteness and diminutive forms. MacDonald translates the 3D vignettes she creates in virtual reality into oil paintings that personify objects and anthropomorphize animals, transforming them into complex symbols of femininity and power. MacDonald’s figures are discernibly pink, smooth, cute, and their bite is deadly. 

These new paintings feature soft contours and peachy hues that traditionally evoke a sense of femininity and vulnerability. Yet, the subjects—porcelain figurines and vibrant, glossy fruits—subvert the expectation of helplessness placed upon them. Oscillating between dominance and passivity, tenderness and cruelty, they trap their prey, bare their teeth—they bite. Forms are rendered soft and sharp at once—porcelain, jelly, and metal are indistinguishable in MacDonald’s lustrous, dreamy world. This dissolution between material categories, between opposites and extremes, creates paradoxes inherent to feminine identity—where cuteness, often an aestheticization of powerlessness, becomes a site of allure and unease.

Delicate forms shift indistinguishably from passive to assertive, inviting viewers to grapple with the pre-existing relationship between power and femininity. Recurring themes of fear, anxiety, and deception underscore the ambivalence of her subjects, suggesting that they are not only sites of deformation but transformation of meaning. The vibrant, hyper-real environments are backdrops to this evolution of the objectified, where soft and sharp become one, and femininity is not bound by traditional notions of value and power. “Cuteness is inherently unstable,” the artist reflects “It amplifies diminutive qualities but is also highly malleable. This duality allows for a nuanced exploration of power dynamics—where the seemingly innocuous can simultaneously disarm and manipulate.” The figures from MacDonald’s world may not kill you, but they might maim you when you’re not looking.