available artwork
ABOUT THE ARTIST
THE ILLUMINATED OBJECT
It is essentially this element of his work which invites us to see the commonplace as special and filled with potential. His still life paintings convey a reverence for the Dutch Masters and draw attention to how memory and a sense of the divine can be evoked by ‘ordinary’ objects. He reminds us that simple and familiar objects can carry stories, be emblems of grace, talismans of memory.
McVinish looks hard at things. He does the kind of serious noticing that encompasses intense curiosity and observation, ruthless editing, physical stillness, and philosophical meditation.
As he says, “I’m interested taking everyday things and transforming them, finding the aesthetic in what usually gets taken for granted. But it’s also about the juxtaposition of objects, putting disparate objects together – they’re ‘real’ objects, but you mightn’t normally see them the way I’ve got them arranged, so then they begin to tell a story. And I like to exaggerate too – so things seem ‘realer’ than real – and the more I push that, the more I see the whole thing becomes quite abstract.”
McVinish is a passionate painter of light not just space and form. Here light has the power to suggest meaning, to celebrate colour, and to conjure atmosphere. His painting methodology involves numerous time-consuming applications of oil paint and glazes which result not only in a substantial illusion of depth but in painting what can’t be seen – namely, the air around things in the picture plane.
A ‘Zen’ stillness haunts this artist’s work. McVinish describes a material world that is both solid and transitory and captures it in a place of everlastingness.
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
1973 Diploma Art & Design, Swinburne College of Technology, Melbourne
1976 Diploma of Education, State College of Victoria at Hawthorn
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney. Gallery One, Southport, QLD
2015 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne. Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane. Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2014 Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Sydney
2014 Lethbridge gallery, Brisbane
2013 Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney
2013 Lethbridge Gallery,Brisbane
2012 Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
2011 Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney
2010 Neo Gallery, Brisbane
2009 Eva Breuer Art Dealer, Sydney
2009 Lindberg Contemporary, Melbourne. Neo Gallery, Brisbane
2008 Neo Gallery, Brisbane
2007 Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2006 Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2004 Soho Galleries, Sydney
2003 Soho Galleries, Sydney. Gallery 482, Brisbane
2002 Galleries, Melbourne. Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2001 Gallery 460, Gosford, NSW. Mahoney’s Galleries, Melbourne
2000 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
1999 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
1997 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
1996 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
1996 Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
1995 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 Tattersalls Landscape Prize, Brisbane. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW. Maritime Art Award, Melbourne. Art from the Heart, the private collection of Viola Nicolson & Colin Fitzgerald, Toowoomba regional Gallery, QLD
2015 Wynne Prize for landscape, Art gallery NSW. Tattersall’s Landscape Prize, QLD. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW
2014 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne. Salon des Refuses, S. H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney. Tattersall’s Landscape Prize, QLD
2013 Tattersalls Landscape Prize, QLD. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW. Black Swan Portrait Award, Perth. Paddington landscape Prize, Sydney. Salon des Refuses, S. H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney
2012 Redland Art Prize,QLD, EMSLA Still Life Award. Coff’s Harbour, Norvill Landscape Prize NSW. Tattersalls Landscape Prize, QLD
2011 Archibald Prize, Art Gallery NSW. Mosman Art Prize, NSW. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW. Tattersalls landscape Prize, QLD
2009 Bettcher Gallery, Miami, FL. William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2008 Norvill Art Prize, NSW. William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2007 Mahoney’s Galleries, Melbourne
2007 William Merrill Galley, Laguna Beach, CA
2006 Bettcher Gallery, Miami, FL. Mosman Art Prize, Sydney. William Merrill Galley, Laguna Beach, CA2005. William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA. Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2001 Jan Murphy Gallery, Singapore. Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Brisbane. Australian Artists, Tokyo
2000 Mosman Art Prize, Sydney
1997 Redland Westpac Prize, Sydney
1995 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane2016 Tattersalls Landscape Prize, Brisbane. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW. Maritime Art Award, Melbourne. Art from the Heart, the private collection of Viola Nicolson & Colin Fitzgerald, Toowoomba regional Gallery, QLD
2015 Wynne Prize for landscape, Art gallery NSW. Tattersall’s Landscape Prize, QLD. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW
2014 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne. Salon des Refuses, S. H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney. Tattersall’s Landscape Prize, QLD
2013 Tattersalls Landscape Prize, QLD. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW. Black Swan Portrait Award, Perth. Paddington landscape Prize, Sydney. Salon des Refuses, S. H. Irvin Gallery, Sydney
2012 Redland Art Prize,QLD, EMSLA Still Life Award. Coff’s Harbour, Norvill Landscape Prize NSW. Tattersalls Landscape Prize, QLD
2011 Archibald Prize, Art Gallery NSW. Mosman Art Prize, NSW. EMSLA Still Life Award, Coff’s Harbour, NSW. Tattersalls landscape Prize, QLD
2009 Bettcher Gallery, Miami, FL. William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2008 Norvill Art Prize, NSW. William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2007 Mahoney’s Galleries, Melbourne
2007 William Merrill Galley, Laguna Beach, CA
2006 Bettcher Gallery, Miami, FL. Mosman Art Prize, Sydney. William Merrill Galley, Laguna Beach, CA2005. William Merrill Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA. Richard Martin Art, Sydney
2001 Jan Murphy Gallery, Singapore. Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Brisbane. Australian Artists, Tokyo
2000 Mosman Art Prize, Sydney
1997 Redland Westpac Prize, Sydney
1995 Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
SELECTED AWARDS
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
2013 Holding Redlich People’s Choice Award, Salon des Refuses, E H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1999 Sunday Mail Art Prize, Brisbane
1998 Caloundra Art Prize (Painting)
1996 Still Life Award, Redcliffe Art Show. Caloundra Art Prize
1997 Noosa Art Prize. Sunshine Coast Art Group Prize
1993 Maroochy Art Prize
1986 Printmaking Prize, Redcliffe Art Show, Brisbane
1980 Gold Coast City Council Acquisition Prize, Concurry Art Prize, Toowoomba City Council Acquisition Prize
Gold Coast City Council / Toowoomba City Council / Griffith University / Redcliffe City Council / Maroochy Shire Council / County Court of Victoria ( portrait commission of Chief Judge Desmond Whelan ) Australasian College of Surgeons (portrait commission of ‘08 –‘09 President) /
University of the Sunshine Coast (portrait commission of the University Chancellor, John M. Dobson OAM ; University Vice Chancellor, Greg Hill ) / Tweed River Regional Gallery ( portrait of Robyn Nevin AO, portrait of Colin Friels) / Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, Cathedral of St. Stephen (portrait of Mary MacKillop)/ University of Queensland Press / Tamar Collection, Tasmania / United Services Club, Brisbane / News Corp/ Mission to Seafarers Victoria Collection of Philip Bacon (portrait of Philip Bacon) Private and Corporate Collections in Australia, UK, Europe, USA
