Helen McCullagh
Dani McKenzie
To paint the photograph is to negate the presumption of veracity that gives all photographs an
authority of the objective. When photography is relieved of its position as 'necessarily real,' so
too does its fixed position as 'past' become disarticulated. In a painting of a photograph, there
is coalescence between the 'pastness' of the photograph and the continuing present of the
observer, opening up a space in which time and memory can be generated by the image rather
than documented by it. Working from found photographs, and stills from 8mm home movies,
McKenzie's paintings can be seen as instances of instability that open up interpretative
possibilities. Flickering between modes of abstraction and representation, between painting
and photography, between form and content, the world of the painting can no longer be
relegated to a position of the past to be recalled or forgotten, but instead constructs new
relations between pasts, various actual presents, and virtual futures.
Dani McKenzie graduated from the National Art School in 2016. During her time at NAS,
she received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for both Honours and MFA
degrees, and was also awarded the Onslow Storrier Residency at La Cité Internationale des
Arts in Paris, which she undertook last year. McKenzie has been a finalist in the Bayside
Acquisitive Art Prize in 2017, and the Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize in 2016,
winning the Nick Waterlow Award. In 2015, she was awarded the Belle ArtStart Prize.
30.5 x 30.5 cm Oil on Linen SOLD
30.5 x 30.5 cm Oil on Linen SOLD
71.5 x 107 cm Oil on Linen $1600
Education
2016 Master of Fine Art, National Art School, Sydney.
2015 Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours (First Class), National Art School, Sydney.
Forthcoming Exhibitions 2018
Visions, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
Seeing Seeing, MARS Gallery, Melbourne.
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Mirror Image, MARS Gallery, Melbourne.
2016 TRACKS, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
Double Negative, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018 The Other Art Fair, Exhibition Hall Australian Technology Park, Sydney. Directors Choice
Stand curated by Steven Alderton.
Summer Group Show, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
2017 NotFair, Windsor, Melbourne. Curated by Sam Leach, Ashley Crawford and Tony Lloyd.
10, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
2016 Identity, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
A Place We Dream Of, Michael Reid Gallery, Murrurundi NSW.
2015 30.09.15, Home@735 Gallery, Sydney.
Centenary Institute Fundraising Event, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney.
Dreamland, Gallery Klei, Sydney.
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Awards and Residencies
Collections
Macquarie Group Collection
National Art School Collection
Private Collections in Australia, UK, Singapore
2017 Onslow Storrier Residency, La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (July - October).
Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (Finalist).
Lethbridge 10 000 Small Scale Art Award (Finalist).
2016 Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize (Nick Waterlow Award).
Outstanding Academic Achievement Award (Master of Fine Art).
2015 Belle ArtStart Prize (Winner).
Sydney Canvas Company Painting Prize (Winner).
Outstanding Academic Achievement Award (Honours).
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Collections
Macquarie Group Collection
National Art School Collection
Private Collections in Australia, UK, Singapore
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