The psychological aspect of designed spaces and their effect on people has always interested Australian artist Noel McKenna, whose works will be on show at this week’s Auckland Art Fair.
Having always lived in cities, McKenna is intrigued with suburbia, homes and interiors and says, “using the familiar as a starting point, I try to make an image that is familiar but not familiar”.
In a similar vein, dogs and cats also feature regularly in his works. “There is a sadness to our domestic pets I always feel, as they are so dependent on us having lost a lot of their wildness through our breeding practices.”
McKenna studied architecture for 18 months, before turning to painting and it still informs his work today.
Based in Sydney, and represented in New Zealand by Bowen Galleries, it was while doing a residency at Auckland’s Two Rooms Gallery, that he painted Stonefields, Auckland (pictured).
“In my getting to know the city I did a walk from One Tree Hill to Half Moon Bay and was taken by the look of the development. I thought it was very well done from a planning viewpoint. I spent a morning in a home there and walked around the whole development.”
His work has been described as ‘poetic renditions of psychological spaces or locations’ and this, he agrees, is what keeps him still interested in painting and doing what he loves. When it comes to career highlights, McKenna confesses to having many. He has had shows throughout Australia, in Dublin and Hong Kong, and his work is held in many galleries across Australia and the Auckland Art Gallery.
One highlight that stands out, he says, was one he never actually saw, when the New York artist Robert Wilson who works in theatre and opera had his collection displayed at The Louvre, in Paris, and it included three of McKenna's paintings.
• Find Noel McKenna's work at the Bowen Galleries booth (B2), at the Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud May 25-29. For more info, visit artfair.co.nz