Thursday, March 25, 2010

Angus McDonald.

Angus McDonald Tethered by Fears Propelled by Dreams 2009


I love a quiet morning with a cup of tea and toast while savoring the pages of a fresh new magazine... sounds poetic? Not quite... but I do love this tiny ritual when it come my way. I am definitely NOT a morning person, as some of you may know by now. It usually takes a few cups of English breakfast to get me moving... and a new magazine to get my creative juices flowing for the day!
And this week I scammed a glance at the April addition of Country Style that seem to have a regular feature article on a local Australian artist, which I love! So great to see a well shot and thought out article on a artist and their studio practice...there is nothing better as it truly gives an incite into a space that is usually guarded by lock and key! Artists can be quite protective of their little creative nook where they can play and dream...


So this feature on Angus was a treat!
Last year when talking about the Jacaranda drawing prize, I posted an image of Angus' bovine work and spoke of his great attention to detail. After reading this article by Amy Richardson, it turns out that Angus only started to take his art seriously at age 31 after a former life in finance! So this is his second career, and boy, is he doing well! He enrolled at Julian Ashton's art school in The Rocks that prides themselves on academic drawing and painting practices, and he never looked back! He found his passion...


At the bottom of this image you can see his glass full of beautiful charcoal, and on the right, there are some images from his mood board that he likes to 'keep in mind' while working in the studio.



Love this shot. It is so moody and European in feel with the heavy curtains drawn...
His desk looks too staged and clean but I guess no artist would like to reveal how grubby their space can get! Or maybe he is a rare form of artist that is completely clinical ???
Could be...

Love these shots of the cliffs around Lismore where he now resides...
Beautiful county around there...that is for sure:
"I love the space and get really geed up by living by the ocean and the sea. It's a great place to work because it's a small town and community of people... it's a pretty relaxing life."
Angus in the last few years has loved to draw bulls and around Lismore there are many paddocks to research in! He commented that he:
"became fascinated by bullfighting. It's all about the rhythms and contrasts. The bull and the matador - they're both brave and athletic but the matador has this massive ego. So I was more attracted to the bull and it slowly went from there..."

Ahh the jar of tiny paintbrushes... how I know thee at the moment!
It seems as though Angus in his next show will be moving into a new subject area and retiring the bulls so it will be an interesting exhibition to look forward to. Wonder what is the new subject??? Only time will tell but thank you Angus for letting all of us look at your practice over tea...!
Photography in the article courtesy of Mikkel Vang...
Angus McDonald's exhibition Love, Death and Cow hide will open at Tim Olsen Gallery on April 14 and will continue until May 2.

2 comments:

Corinne (aka Rinny of Arabia) said...

You've just inspired me to go make a cuppa!

Lovely seeing you and your work today. Can't get those new works out of my head. Can picture one of them on my wall...

michele aka the tiny said...

Yippee...always a good sign when people are thinking of them after leaving the studio...maybe im on track?? Loved having you over too...x