Tim McMonagle

(born 1971)

Kirsten, 2006

Footnotes

PROVENANCE
Kaliman Gallery, Sydney (label attached verso)
Private collection, Melbourne
Menzies, Sydney, 8 December 2011, lot 128
Private collection, Melbourne

LITERATURE
Current: Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand, Art and Australia, Dott Publishing, Sydney, 2008, pp. 184-185 (illus.)


Grand in effect but modest in subject, Tim McMonagle's paintings respond to contemporary Australian culture by focusing on its subtle moments. His large, dreamlike canvases capture intimate and fragmentary details - a woman feeding a calf, a man lounging on a hammock, a couple crabbing on the shoreline - which hint at a larger narrative and spark the viewers imagination.

Process is central to McMonagle's practice; the artist works with oils and impasto on linen to build small textured details inside large square canvases. McMonagle's compositions are planned to a degree but his technique of painting directly onto linen is one of evolution: 'A lot of people have a complete idea of what the painting will be before they begin it', the artist has remarked, 'I don't, I let it grow on the canvas'...

Time is distilled by McMonagle's thick brushstrokes, Kirsten, 2006, captures a sense of stillness and anticipation. A woman glances up from where she lies in a hammock among limp strands of spaghetti, the fork in her hand entwined with more, causing us to wonder about the moments before and after, her company or preoccupations.

McMonagle initially studied at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, in the early 1990s, until he became disenchanted and abandoned painting for the best part of four years. Since resuming his art practice, McMonagle has exhibited in more than seventeen exhibitions in Australia and New Zealand.'

Current: Contemporary Art from Australia and New Zealand, Art and Australia, Dott Publishing, Sydney, 2008, p.184