Joseph McGlennon

Joseph McGlennon possesses an entirely original visual language. He trained, in his youth, at the National Art School before venturing into the creative world of international business. Back on his art tools, later if life, McGlennon came to each series with ideas and images fully formed and mature. There was no undergraduate angst. His inaugural solo exhibition, Strange Voyage, in 2011, established visual, aesthetic and curatorial benchmarks and parameters that have influenced every subsequent artwork and series. The consistent quality of his creative output is exceptional.

Strange Voyage delved into the historical reality of the 19th century when a mob of kangaroos were shipped to Kew Gardens in London. The royal family just loved wild animals besporting themselves in the gardens for their pleasure. The kangaroos froze to death. The underlying philosophical theme of the exhibition was the notion that some things simply cannot be uprooted and transplanted culturally.

McGlennon’s photographs are beautiful, their message subtly powerful. Upon winning the most prestigious photography prize in the country, the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, in 2015, artist and judge Bill Henson commented on McGlennon’s practice, stating, “The work has an almost anonymous perfection that reinforces the fact that culture is never outside nature.”

Numerous articles have been dedicated to the hundreds of individual images captured with McGlennon’s Hasselblad camera – to make a single artwork – which are skilfully woven together to narrate his poignant stories. The power of his unrivalled skills is without question. Many now blatantly copy McGlennon’s style. However, the flattery of imitation to one side, it is the ever-roving and evolving scope of McGlennon’s practice that simply defies his peers.

With his Murrurundi exhibition, McGlennon wanted his new kangaroos to find expression outside of a metropolitan space, for the work to ground its paws in the very soil of regional Australia. McGlennon’s new series, Leap, captures kangaroos mid-air, symbolising resilience against wild colonial hunting dogs. The dogs remain just out of frame, but their urgency and presence can be sensed through their dynamic leap of the kangaroo.

These creatures embody untamed beauty, reflecting the unwavering spirit of the Australian wilderness. Their sinuous form becomes a living poem of fluid motion. Inspired by the ecological dance between predator and prey, Leap explores the delicate balance within this unique ecosystem. It invites reflection on the human impact that is still needed for conservation in today’s fragile Australia.

For Australian acquisitions please contact danielsoma@michaelreid.com.au
For European acquisitions  please contact colinesoria@michaelreid.com.au