LAITH MCGREGOR

Laith McGregor’s celebrated drawings are intricate, fashioned by finely modulated mark-making using pencil or sometimes ball point pen. For him, creating a line is always the starting point for exploration within his wider practice, an expression of his belief that drawing is a fundamental form of human expression. He explains ‘The line as a symbolic gesture dates back to our primitive origins and has filtered into the fabric of everyday life. A primal instinct, the line is used to map, guide, express and converse, it is an immediate action that bridges consciousness.’ McGregor’s inquiry into the grey area between real and unreal has led the artist to a study of intuitive mark-making and the use of the subconscious as a means to guide, express, and perform spontaneous line-form arrangements and compositions. While drawing is the fundamental tenet of his practice McGregor engages with a range of materials, exhibitions often presenting traditional practice alongside found sculpture and residues from his studio.

A direct and personal exchange with his audience is characteristic of McGregor’s work. Pithy titles add to a practice that has explored various themes including the self, masculinity and the experience of living between two cultures. Peep holes, or voids, recur continuously, sometimes as devices through which to look at another piece, or as negative spaces that give the suggestion of eyes in otherwise non-figurative art works.

McGregor has exhibited widely throughout Australia & overseas, most recently in public institutions, commercial galleries & artist run spaces including: Museum of Contemporary Art (NSW), GOMA (QLD), MONA (TAS), The National Gallery of Victoria (VIC), Heide Museum of Art (VIC), Institute of Modern Art (QLD), The Art Gallery of South Australia (SA), University of Queensland Art Museum (QLD), City Gallery Wellington (NZ), KALIMANRAWLINS (VIC), Sullivan & Strumpf (SYD), Ryan Renshaw Gallery (QLD), Westspace (VIC) & TCB (VIC).

Courtesy Starkwhite