Working across drawing, painting and sculpture, Laith McGregor’s multi-disciplinary practice reflects an ongoing inquiry into contemporary portraiture, semiotics of image making and notions of the self. With pieces incorporating laborious, hyper-realistic illustration, accumulations of pencil and eraser shavings, and other processes that form a meditative daily ritual, his practice is resolutely underpinned by a commitment to physical studio work and the marking of time. McGregor’s works wrestle with the grey area that exists between fiction and non-fiction, negative and positive, black and white, two- and three- dimensions, serving an ongoing inquiry into the complexities of what it means to be human.
McGregor achieved success early in his career for his intricately drawn works, using ballpoint pen and pencil, winning the Robert Jacks Drawing Prize (2008), the Qantas Foundation Encouragement of Australian Contemporary Art Award (2009), and the Emerging New Work Grant by The Australia Council for the Arts (2009). Since then, he has been the winner of the Paul Guest Drawing Prize (2018), National Works on Paper Prize (2012), and the Paul Guest Memorial Prize (2018), and a finalist in many other prizes. He has participated in numerous residencies including Art Omi New York, HIAP Helsinki and the Barcelona Studio residency through the Australian Council for the Arts. He has exhibited extensively in Australia and internationally, and is represented in significant institutional collections. McGregor was included in the recent Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2022: FREE STATE, at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Long Song
2017
oil on canvas and wood carvings
201.0 x 156.0 cm
Hands
2017
latex gloves, chilli and oil paint
36.0 x 27.0 cm
With Milk
2017
wood, vintage carving & stainless steel
34.0 x 15.0 x 12.0 cm
Pipe dream
2017
installation view
(photograph: Christian Capurro)
Laith install
2019
installation view
Veiled The Sun
2020
pencil on paper
185.0 x 156.0 cm framed
Closer to Land
2017
oil on cotton, oil on canvas
201.0 x 156.0 cm
Vessel (Balance)
2021
glazed ceramic, enamel and wood
30.5 x 24.5 x 19.0 cm
Vessel (Sympathy)
2021
glazed ceramic and enamel
29.0 x 23.0 x 17.5 cm
Vessel (Float)
2021
glazed ceramic, enamel and wood
24.0 x 18.0 x 18.0 cm
Tall Tale
2021
Installation view
Photography: Samantha Lynch
Someone (detail)
2012
pen and ink on paper, ping pong table
411.0 cm x 153.0 cm (table height: 76.0 cm)
Someone (detail)
2012
pen and ink on paper, ping pong table
411.0 cm x 153.0 cm (table height: 76.0 cm)
Someone
2012
pen and ink on paper, ping pong table
411.0 cm x 153.0 cm (table height: 76.0 cm)
Tete (Sable)
2013
bronze
26.0 x 17.0 cm
Nigh Night
2013
pencil on paper, 2 parts
230.0 x 300.0 cm (overall)
AGAIG
2014
pencil on paper
46.0 x 36.0 cm
Jakeman
2014
pencil on paper
46.0 x 36.0 cm
Nassau
2014
chalk board paint, clay and wood
height 84.5 x diameter 20.5 cm
St. Petersburg
2014
wood, plastic, clay, steel, acrylic and enamel
26.0 x 30.0 cm
Kaffeeklatsch
2014
aluminium and cue ball
43.5 x 6.0 cm
Installation view
2014
Installation view
2016
Installation view
2016
Installation view
2014
The Red Queen
Sympathetic Magic
2019
Installation view
Sympathetic Magic
2019
Installation view
Comedy
2019
oil on canvas with custom wood shelf and wood objects
total size: 165.0 x 193.0 x 30.0 cm
See
2019
oil on canvas
71.5 x 66.5 cm
Untitled (Old Man)
2019
oil on cloth and found objects
total size: 58.0 x 30.5 cm
Stalemate
2019
wood, fibreglass, clothes, shoes and oil paint
63.0 x 86.0 x 55.0 cm
Sympathetic Magic
2019
installation view
Dusk
2019
pencil on paper
198.0 x 153.0 cm
Dawn
2019
pencil on paper
198.0 x 153.0 cm
This Old Island
2018
pencil on paper
198.0 x 153.0 cm
The Bay
2017
pencil on paper
157.0 x 189.50 cm
Missing
2019
Collage mounted on archival paper and custom frame
35.0 x 40.0 cm
Waterfall
2019
Collage mounted on archival paper and custom frame
35.0 x 33.5 cm
Archipelago
2019
Installation View
Archipelago
2019
Installation View
Tall Tale
2021
Installation view
Photography: Samantha Lynch
Tall Tale
2021
Installation view
Photography: Samantha Lynch
Tall Tale
2021
Installation view
Photography: Samantha Lynch
Tall Tale
2021
Installation view
Photography: Samantha Lynch
Tall Tale
2021
Installation view
Photography: Samantha Lynch
Vessel (Ages)
2021
Glazed ceramic, enamel and wood
33.0 x 20.0 x 15.0 cm
Vessel (Floating)
2022
glazed ceramic
23.5 x 19.0 cm
Vessel (Living)
2022
glazed ceramic and cue balls
25.0 x 17.0 cm
Vessel (Coffee)
2022
ceramic, wood and chalkboard paint
25.0 x 21.0 cm
Vessel (Feels)
2022
glazed ceramic and polymer compound
33.0 x 20.0