“One factor I’ve learnt is that typically life doesn’t have and even must have better that means it’s only a collection of random occasions. Typically embracing that and dealing with that’s simply as fulfilling as discovering excessive ideas or excessive artwork or greater that means.”
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– Fintan Magee
www.instagram.com/fintan_magee
www.fintanmagee.com
Fintan Magee is sometimes called a ‘social realist’ painter recognised for his means to speak distinctive views on international points by means of his visible language of merging references and portray strategies from historic and up to date artwork. Magee refers to his canvases as mirrors, used to replicate his emotional reactions to the world round him. This means to supply a particular reflection by means of which to view divisive and sophisticated points, resembling id, migration, loss, social justice and the atmosphere, has been one of many driving components behind the common enchantment of his large-scale public murals and studio-based works.
A look at Magee’s household historical past uncovers the supply of his eager curiosity in a broad vary of socio-political points. Magee’s fast and prolonged household have been closely concerned within the Northern Eire civil rights motion of the Nineteen Sixties, migrating to Australia through the Thatcher period of the Eighties to keep away from the shifting political local weather in the UK. The event of a social and political consciousness was an unavoidable a part of Magee’s upbringing.
Private experiences gained from common worldwide journey for gallery reveals and public mural tasks are sometimes the catalytic inspiration behind Magee’s ideas. Predominantly an artist that rigorously considers and clearly defines narratives by means of every of his collection, the works on this exhibition started as “a little bit of a hodgepodge of emotional reactions to our present scenario,” says Magee.
Lockdowns and journey restrictions have been introduced, leaving Magee confined to creating work in his Sydney studio for an prolonged interval; consuming present discourse solely by means of the lens of broadcast and digital information media. Unable to journey, converse with a wider viewers, {photograph} fashions for narrative works, or go to museums for reference and inspiration, Magee’s typical means to choose a central narrative or theme was stifled. This sudden change and the impression of isolation and distance left Magee feeling “extremely caught and disadvantaged of inspiration.”
Magee started to seek for inspiration and references on the earth round him, his studio. A pot plant develop into his topic, and remaining true to his methodology, it was photographed, turning into the ‘nonetheless life’ of a each day ritualistic act of portray one work a day. The inspiration being merely to deal with the strategies of portray. This observe
turned a way to occupy the time throughout lockdown. A collection of 32 works merely titled Lockdown, every representing at some point in lockdown, was the ultimate consequence. Portray and holding a pot plant alive turned a meditation for Magee. The shift in focus to the bodily act of portray over idea improvement lead Magee to start to make sense of the state of chaos and isolation that he and the world have been experiencing.
Unconsciously this gave Magee house to ponder a central narrative to attach the “hodgepodge” collection of labor. “This yr has simply been chaos… it’s felt like a collection of random occasions which have been actually troublesome to make sense of… or string collectively any form of frequent narrative round… possibly chaos is the frequent narrative,” says Magee. This realisation impressed each the exhibition title and Magee’s acceptance of chaos because the central theme to explain his “emotional reactions to our present scenario.”
The ensuing collection of works are visually complicated, conceptually nuanced compositions that cowl a variety of present points. Airport Line #1 is a commentary on the dehumanisation of refugees by blurring their faces in information
broadcasts. Chaos Concept is an statement of the shifting political local weather within the USA and Headlock and Stampede – the Black Lives Matter protests and Indigenous Australian deaths in custody. Window, a bigger than life canvas depicting Magee’s accomplice, the one out there mannequin throughout lockdown, behind a pane of tempered glass discusses isolation.
Balancing Act, Lengthy Journey Dwelling and the Lockdown collection, every cowl reactions to completely different elements of the coronavirus pandemic and Damaged Water Cooler, a response to the Australian bushfire disaster. 5 Males Holding a Column is a vertical canvas depicting 5 younger males of assorted cultural backgrounds standing in a circle going through the viewer. Collectively, the group is holding up a Greco-Roman column behind their backs. Traditionally a logo of business progress and architectural prowess, on this composition it’s used as a logo of latest opulence and wealth. The work was initially impressed throughout a visit to Dubai the place Magee famous the unimaginable monumental constructions that make up trendy cities are predominantly constructed by migrant employees. The 5 figures signify these working-class individuals who concurrently construct the bodily constructions and the wealth of the individuals who personal them.
Watching the Flood, a big sq. canvas, depicts a younger lady standing on the fringe of an expansive ocean, along with her again to the viewer, watching on as a pile of individuals helplessly wrestle towards a raging tide and one another. Determined arms reaching upwards greedy for one thing unseen, a reference to depictions of non secular rapture. The topics seem frenetic, confused and helpless, reflecting the wrestle towards local weather change; a devastating but unseen pressure that youthful generations really feel helpless towards, standing by as others grapple with its complexities and are overwhelmed by its penalties.
Inside the assortment of works exhibited in Nothing Makes Sense Anymore, Magee unconsciously utilized a conceptual order to the interior and exterior chaos created by means of the crises of this yr. Retroactively weaving collectively a conceptual narrative to make what started as a “hodgepodge” right into a well-considered, refined collection that addresses the challenges, disparities and problems with our time.
– Backwoods Gallery
www.instagram.com/backwoods.gallery
www.backwoods.gallery
BACKWOODS GALLERY
25 Easey St Collingwood, Victoria, Australia
