Step into a painting by Canadian artist Gary McMillan and you might find yourself somewhere between a dream and an expedition to another planet. His colourful compositions feature mysterious humanoid figures, unusual plants and strange situations that seem to follow their own logic. There’s humour in these imaginary worlds, but also a thoughtful look at the way people behave and relate to one another.

Based in Calgary, Alberta, McMillan combines traditional painting techniques with a wonderfully unconventional imagination. Rather than explaining everything, he leaves viewers free to explore these peculiar environments and decide what they might mean.

An Artistic Journey

McMillan studied applied sciences and fine art at the University of Calgary before graduating with distinction in Painting and Printmaking from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 1991. During the 1990s, he concentrated largely on landscape painting while maintaining a parallel career in the jewelry industry.

His artistic path took a few turns. Jewelry work dominated much of the 2000s, but he returned to painting and exhibiting seriously in 2009. Since then, his work has increasingly explored the relationship between human figures and natural landscapes, eventually leading to the surreal compositions he’s known for today.

Welcome to the Unfamiliar

McMillan’s paintings resemble scenes from an imaginary travel journal. Strange, human-like creatures inhabit colourful landscapes, surrounded by unfamiliar vegetation and engaged in activities that can be both amusing and puzzling. Their identities remain deliberately ambiguous, leaving viewers to wonder about their origins, relationships and social structures.

His careful treatment of light, shadow and detail gives these fictional places an unexpected sense of realism. The result is a fascinating contrast: everything looks convincing, even when absolutely nothing makes sense. Instead of providing answers, McMillan encourages us to invent our own stories.

The Mischief Behind the Imagery

Play and mischief are important elements of McMillan’s creative process. He’s particularly interested in the contrast between the nice and the not-so-nice, although he prefers humour and subtle misdirection to presenting an overly harsh vision of the world.

Beneath the amusing characters and bizarre situations, there’s often a more critical perspective. His imaginary societies reflect familiar human habits, including our tendency to establish hierarchies, create categories and judge others based on assumptions. It’s a clever way of examining contemporary society without taking things too seriously.

Galapagos: An Imaginary Expedition

One of McMillan’s most intriguing projects is Galapagos, a collection of quasi-surrealistic paintings and sculptures. Inspired by the famous Pacific islands associated with Charles Darwin, the series imagines an unfamiliar ecosystem populated by mysterious humanoid beings and unusual natural forms.

The project also includes fictional field notes and expedition diaries, inviting viewers to imagine themselves as explorers studying an unknown civilization. As they attempt to understand its inhabitants, they may begin recognizing familiar patterns in their own society. The imaginary world becomes a playful mirror of our own.

Alongside his artistic practice, McMillan has worked for more than thirty years as a professional wax model maker, creating custom designs for independent jewelry retailers. He continues to balance both careers while managing the marketing and sale of his own artwork.

Looking ahead, he intends to keep painting and exploring whatever creative projects catch his attention. He’d also love to see his work reach audiences in international art centres such as New York, London and Berlin. Yet, for all his ambitions, he remains refreshingly honest about the challenges of putting himself forward as an artist.

Perhaps that’s what makes McMillan’s work so appealing. He isn’t interested in following a predictable path or providing easy explanations. Instead, he keeps experimenting, finding humour in the unexpected and turning familiar human behaviour into something wonderfully strange. His fictional inhabitants may belong to another world, but they have quite a lot to say about ours.