Who remembers 1998 dramedy Sliding Doors, starring the very lovely Gwyneth Paltrow and her polished British accent? As well as some fine performances, the film is notable for writer-director Peter Howitt’s clever concept — a storyline which splits into two parallel strands when our pre-Goop Gwyn both catches and misses a train. Spoiler alert. The former timeline leads to her discovering her boyfriend in bed with the aptly-named Jeanne Tripplehorn, but in the latter the “other woman” has hopped it before Gwyneth arrives home and the cad gets away with his ‘horn-dogging. For the remainder of the film we see the two alternate universes unfold, and watch how a seemingly inconsequential slip can in fact have far-reaching consequences. Great film — the 6.8 rating on IMDb only serving to prove that most of the site’s users wouldn’t know real quality if it tea-bagged them.
If Alexis Anne Mackenzie has never seen Sliding Doors then she should, as the San Francisco artist has spent 12 months pondering the same sort of thing for her new series Multiverse. Mackenzie’s musings on choices, risks, and dual-lives began with Synthesis at Eleanor Harwood Gallery last year, and she has now returned to the venue with further investigation into the topic. Her collage diptychs are created from two or three images which have been manipulated to scramble the true picture, with layers only marginally shifted or obscured creating a disorientating effect in one but leaving the other as a discernible version of reality. The San Francisco gallery is hosting Multiverse until 11 April.
Alexis Anne Mackenzie
Be Your Own Guest, 2015
hand-cut collage on paper
8 x 14.5 inches
Alexis Anne Mackenzie
Do You Want To See Future?, 2015
hand-cut collage on paper
6.875 x 6.5 inches
Alexis Anne Mackenzie
Think About Eternity, Inc., 2015
hand-cut collage on paper
9 x 14 inches
Alexis Anne Mackenzie
Follow Me, 2015
hand-cut collage on paper
6.5 x 4.5 inches
Alexis Anne Mackenzie
More Than Alive, 2015
hand-cut collage on paper
6.175 x 8.5 inches
Alexis Anne Mackenzie
Stranger Than Paradise, 2015
hand-cut collage on paper
6.875 x 6.5 inches
