Euan Macleod Painter is the first major touring exhibition of Macleod’s work on this side of the Tasman. Christchurch-born, but resident in Sydney since the early 1980s, Euan Macleod has produced a singular, remarkable and gripping body of work. Spanning three decades of a prolific career, the 39 canvases in the exhibition take us on a journey not only through physical landscapes but also through states of mind and being. As well as asking how each of us engages with nature, the exhibition hints at myths and narratives from human history–processes of discovery, conflict and resolution.

Many of these paintings are self-portraits. With impassioned, visceral applications of oil paint, Macleod depicts himself marching, striding and covering ground. The exhibition features works painted in New Zealand as well as Australia– alpine and coastal vistas contrast with the baked or scrub-covered outback. Macleod paints himself from different vantage points; he buries himself in earth and clay, he dissolves into a plume of volcanic smoke. He is consumed by fire; he is drowned and then resuscitated. Extending, rather than being confined by, the genre of self-portraiture, Macleod is that rare being, an artist ‘prepared to push the boat out into uncharted waters and dare to take a risk’, as Peter Ross observed in his history of the Archibald Prize (which Macleod won in 1999).

Join the artist Euan Macleod at the opening of his exhibition on Friday 7th October.

Exhibition curated by Gregory O’Brien. Toured by Exhibition Services Tours

Header: Euan Macleod, installation view, 2016. All rights reserved.

Image: Euan Macleod, Barrow Man, 2007. Oil on canvas.  Private Collection. All rights reserved.