The Man Behind the Brush N oel McKenna is a Sydney based artist who won the 26th Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize with his piece ‘Farm Scene’. He describes his piece as a drive through the countryside, “I live in the city so I do not get to the country much, but I do go for drives through the country,” Noel says, “this scene depicts a country drive with horses along the fence, yet still with the element of man depicted in the fence and barn.” Landscapes are a departure from Noel’s regular work of urban scenes. “As an artist you can get pigeon-holed into a certain type of work and mine is urban imagery and in particular interior scenes,” he explains. Noel’s love of urban scenes comes from early aspirations to be an architect. After graduating high school he pursued studies in architecture at The University of Queensland. He studied for a year and a half before dropping out, “My dropping out of architecture was mainly because my drawings were so untidy and messy and they did not think I would be able to get through the course. They suggested I try art school.” Up until this point Noel had never considered art or had an interest in it. “I did not even know what a canvas was!” Noel admits. “Alan Warren interviewed me 10 Tattler Summer 2015 and admittedly it did not go very well,” he says, “I just had a little book of ink drawings that he said were pretty weak, but I got in.” Now a leading Australian artist with pieces showcased all around the world, his work exhibits a raw and almost organic quality that, at times, can be controversial in the art scene. He generally paints his pieces in one sitting across a day or two, sitting down with just a general idea and letting the experience take him on a journey. There is minimal planning and the painting and mood dictates which way it goes, lending to the raw and intimate imagery he portrays on the canvas. Following the Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize, Noel has a show in Melbourne at Niagara Gallery, which coincidently is about the horse and in December another feature at a gallery in Miami. His work was also showcased in Ireland last May. ‘Farm Scene’ will be on display in the concierge at Tattersall’s Club until the 2016 Landscape Art Prize competition.
Tattler Summer 2015
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