Helen McCullagh
Sam Field
I paint many things, including but not limited to landscapes, still lifes, portraits and genre paintings. The subjects of these works include race, identity, masculinity, and our relationship with landscape, embodied through metaphorical forms and loaded symbology.
I am endlessly fascinated by the Australian narrative, whatever that means. For the large part, the whole Australian meta-narrative post colonisation has been derived from a small number of historical events, stories, and mythologies. They have been painted and sung about, and embodied in poetry, language and school curricula. They ‘define’ us as a nation and as a people and lay the foundation of our ‘esprit de corps’. As we move into a globalised culture this idealistic (and patriarchal) vision is waning in its relevance and popularity – and some may say rightly so. I paint to unpack that lexicon. To understand what it means to be an Australian, a man, and a white man. It is to understand why I am here and how that effects who I am. I suppose my paintings are about romance and an attachment to the mythic past which is neither tangible nor real, and the realisation of this fiction.
50 x 40 cm Framed Oil on Board $1250
50 x 40 cm Framed Oil on Board $1250
40 x 30 cm Framed Oil on Board $1050
Studies and Employment
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17 – 18 Artist Assistant for Luke Sciberras
13 – 16 Bachelor of Fine Arts UTAS
Solo Exhibitions
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2018 Have One on Me, Despard Gallery, Hobart
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney
2019 Genius Loci, Amber Creswell Bell, Stanley St. Gallery, Sydney
2019 Beyond the Range, AK Bellinger gallery, Inverell
2018 Hadley’s Art Prize, Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart
2018 Despard Summer show, Despard Gallery, Hobart
2018 Shrines, Visual Bulk, Hobart
2017 RACT Portraiture Prize, Long Gallery, Hobart
2016 The Sun Will Burn Your Eyes But Only People Make You Cry,
Entrepot Gallery, Hobart
2016 Bay of Fires Art Prize, St Helens
Prizes
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2016 Contemporary Arts Tasmania (CAT) Prize
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