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Details
- Date
- 2015-2016
- Media categories
- Drawing , Watercolour
- Materials used
- pencil, pen and ink, wash on paper
- Dimensions
- 152.0 x 61.0 cm sheet
- Credit
- Dobell Biennial Acquisition Fund 2016
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 382.2016.5
- Copyright
- © Noel McKenna/Copyright Agency
- Artist information
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Noel McKenna
Works in the collection
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About
This drawing is from a group of works titled 'Animals I have known' 2015–16, which lays bare the emotional and psychological importance of animals to Noel McKenna. His creatures, both domestic and wild, document the passing of time through incidents and anecdotes, and emphasise the enmeshed spheres of people and animals, through his own particular story.
Drawing is an ongoing part of McKenna’s practice, informing much of his painting and printmaking as well as being a discrete aspect of his oeuvre. His art is based in his own experience; this series grew from rekindled memories of his childhood, recalling significant animals he encountered as a boy and extending to other important animals in his life to the present.
McKenna describes these drawings as portraits, investing his subjects with a significance and depth of personality more commonly reserved for people. The two larger, more densely worked drawings incorporate text that gives a detailed and compelling account of the artist’s life and the impact of animals on it. -
Exhibition history
Shown in 1 exhibition
Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2016, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 Jul 2016–11 Dec 2016
Dobell Australian Drawing Biennial 2016, Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo, 05 May 2017–02 Jul 2017
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Bibliography
Referenced in 1 publication
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Anne Ryan, Close to home: Dobell Australian drawing biennial 2016, Essay 'Noel McKenna', pg. 43-44, Sydney, 2016, 43, 44, 48-49 (col. illus.), 67, 76.
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