William Macnad

Biography

William Macnad (b. 1992) is a self-taught abstract painter currently living and working in the South of France. His work is inspired by the extensive travels he undertook with his family during his youth. The diverse cultures, languages, smells, and colours he encountered left a lasting impression on his imagination, leaving him prone to creative endeavours and painting in particular.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, with its quarantines and isolation, profoundly affected Macnad's mental health. Seeking a productive outlet to combat his insomnia and recurring nightmares, he began a new series of highly expressive abstract paintings, using art to give shape to and engage with his nightly visions.

Macnad's quick paint strokes, often applied with a palette knife and cloth rather than a brush, seem to dance and move against the uniform backgrounds of his canvases. Resembling swarms of birds in a frenzy or leaves falling, stirred by gusts of violent wind, his paintings emanate a dynamic energy that mesmerises and draws the viewer in. His signature style is characterised by quick gestures, emphasised flatness of the canvas, and the automatism of paint application.

Macnad is also no stranger to experimentation. In some of his latest works, he has begun incorporating elements of collage, breaking the barrier between the painted and the lived reality by attaching leaves, branches and other found items onto his canvases.