James McGrath has won the 2019 Mosman Art Prize Viewers’ Choice Award with Flora cloud #1 (2019), an oil on canvas on board painting inspired by Baroque painting and architectural traditions.
‘This painting is from a new series of surreal Baroque interiors that I am working on for a show next year. Why Baroque? Because multiple techniques, genres and narratives can be folded into each other using a Baroque theatricality. Within the painting, a Baroque interior is flooded with over-sized flowers. It is a visual conundrum, the two archetypes of perspective and Dutch still-life entwined in a surreal play or dance. Like a floral monster casting its shadow over an interior and consuming it. It is perhaps a metaphor of nature taking back control of the built environment. Climate change takes revenge!’ said McGrath.
Drawing from baroque sensibilities, McGrath is continuously engaged with layers of historical imagery, digital media and traditional art-making and over the past decade has explored the meeting point between art, architecture and theatre.
McGrath is represented by Olsen Gallery, Sydney.
The 2019 Mosman Art Prize People’s Choice Award, a $1000 cash prize, is generously supported by the Mosman Art Society.
An exhibition of finalists’ works is on show at Mosman Art Gallery until 27 October 2019.