GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Euan Macleod and Gregory O’Brien
In Times of Trouble Among Nations
Bowen Galleries, Wellington, NZ
20 May - 7 June 2025
When painting together, Euan and I produce work that strikes me as more outward-looking and overtly political than our solo productions. Might this be because the works emerge from a broader, social space rather than emanating from our more private, subjective worlds? In these works, I see/hear us talking to each other about things that matter. The paintings trace various lines of communication—not only between the two of us, but also between Australia and New Zealand, between Western Art and antipodean reality, between Euan’s painterly manner and my graphic line—between our differing pasts, and the meeting of those two strands of being on the surface of the painting.
Curated by Mosman-based artist Ann Cape, A Painter’s Painter examines the intimate relationship between portrait artist and sitter. Featuring depictions of some of Sydney’s most beloved artists, alongside these artists’ own work, viewers are invited into the space shared between artists and everything that space holds.
Local Knowledge: Euan Macleod and Gregory O’Brien
Te Manawa Museum, Palmerston North, NSW
31 Aug 2024 - 23 Feb 2025
Euan Macleod and photographer Craig Potton have collaborated on a stunning hardcover book ‘Look Out’, capturing the awe inspiring landscape and thought-provoking human connection to the iconic Southern Alps of New Zealand.
Lineage | A Visual Continuum
Maitland Regional Art Gallery, Maitland, NSW
29 Jun - 27 Oct 2023
Lineage celebrates the dynamic interplay of tradition and innovation through eight diverse but related artistic practices. The exhibition invites us on a journey through the captivating conversations of these very distinct creative voices, each individually contributing to a shared narrative of artistic heritage. As we traverse the generational spectrum, Lineage offers a glimpse into the influences, transformations, and enduring themes that help shape the ongoing evolution of art.
Clouds 3
Newcastle Art Space, Newcastle, NSW
12 Jul - 28 Jul, 2024
Now in its third iteration Clouds 3 is a group exhibition of cloud-inspired artworks by emerging and established artists curated by @louisefaulknerphotography
This show represents a national group of artists from early career artists to established practitioners.
'This painting came from sitting in planes looking down on the clouds and the landscape below. Flying often reminds me of a time when I was about 20 and up in a mountain hut in horrible weather. Having got frustrated I decided to keep going up and after a bit of a climb found myself above the cloud and in a bright sun filled world with all the various peaks poking out around me.' - Euan Macleod
Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra
Wollongong Art Gallery, Wollongong, NSW
9 March - 2 June, 2024
Lying to the south of Sydney, the Illawarra region has long been studied and celebrated by artists and writers, from Conrad Martens, Max Dupain, DH Lawrence, Charmian Clift to Brett Whiteley and Gary Shead. Its creative history extends back more than 60,000 years in a vibrant and continuous connection to Country, through the cultural disruption of colonisation, and periods of boom and bust as different industries and people have moved to the area and shaped the landscape around them.
Landscape Tells the Way: Illawarra brings together 13 contemporary artists who share a connection to the region, and features their unique perspectives on the local landscape.
Euan Macleod and Geoff Dixon
FACING TIME: 50 YEARS
NorthSite Galleries, 96 Abbott Street, Cairns, QLD 4870
3 Feb - 28 March 2024
This exhibition features works by artists and long-term friends, Euan Macleod and Cairns-based artist Geoff Dixon.
The exhibition will be anchored by an iteration of, ‘Facing Time: Portraits of Geoff’ by Euan Macleod an allegory on isolation, loss, technology and most importantly friendship created during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Taken from an ongoing series of portraits (currently 320 and counting) which depict artists and friends Euan Macleod and Geoff Dixon’s daily communication on FaceTime
Land Holds Memory
Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra, QLD
20 Oct - 3 Dec 2023
No landscape is neutral. Land Holds Memory of stories bearing human and environmental imprints emanating from deep time to the present day.
This exhibition presents new works reflecting experiences of walking, listening, and creating in the landscape.
The primarily plein air works are responses to a series of field trips to the Bunya Mountains, Girraween National Park and Carnarvon Gorge – sites that are resonant with multilayered geological, ecological and human histories.
Fire and Ice
The Suter Art Gallery, Te Aratoi O Wahakatu, Nelson, NZ
10 May - Aug 13 2023
Experience the elemental forces of fire and ice in this captivating exhibition featuring works by renowned artists including Euan Macleod, David Ryan, Neil Frazer, and Craig Potton, as well as ceramics by Christine Boswijk, Len Castle, and Raewyn Atkinson. Discover stunning landscapes of the Southern Alps and glaciers that have inspired generations of adventurers and artists, now threatened by climate change and global warming.
Portraits of Us - Geoff Dixon & Euan Macleod
Bowen Galleries, Wellington, NZ
3 July - 23 July 2023
Inspired by Euan Macleod’s exhibition FacingTime: portraits of Geoff and Geoff Dixon’s documentary Portraits of us, directed by Glenis Giles & Clare O’Leary, we are delighted to present this collaborative exhibition, by two of Bowen Galleries longest serving and beloved artists, Euan Macleod and Geoff Dixon. Euan has been inspired, and painted Geoff in various forms throughout his career. The twelve works in this exhibition include ‘traditional’ portraits of Geoff within the Cairns environment, completed during the FacingTime project between 2021 – 2022.
Painted River Project: Blue Mountains Rare Upland Swamps
Margaret Whitlam Galleries, UWS, Parramatta, NSW
4 May - 8 July 2023
The Painted River Project is an art, science and cultural initiative that creates space for diverse community members to share knowledge and build understanding of how we live with the natural world. It aims to nurture transformative thinking and collective action around one of Australia's most contested topics - water.
Cicada Press - 20 Years
Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, NSW
13 May - 9 July 2023
This exhibition features a selection of fine art prints created at Cicada Press over twenty years. Cicada Press began with experimental projects at Meadowbank TAFE in 2001, established its reputation at UNSW between 2004-2021 and is now operating independently in the studio of its director Michael Kempson. It was created to facilitate student engagement in fine art printmaking production with over 240 internationally respected artists invited to explore the dynamic practice of a custom-printing studio
Inner Landscape
Messums Wiltshire, Salisbury, UK
6 May - 12 June 2023
This exhibition presents selected works by artists from, or inspired by, Australia and New Zealand, in celebration of our season focused on Antipodean culture and heritage. The collection of work is diverse while the artists are connected by their emotional and psychological engagement with the Australasian landscape and outback topography. It is this deeply-rooted commitment to a sense of place that enlivens their imagination and fuels their practice – the landscape consciously or unconsciously entering their work and, ultimately, their values.
Peter Kingston / Euan Macleod – Travelling North
Cairns Art Gallery, Cairns QLD
21 January - 1 March 2023
Cairns Art Gallery holds a significant collection of works by two artists whose love of travel brought them to far north Queensland over a number of years. In different ways the works of Peter Kingston and Euan Macleod respond to the vibrancy of life in the tropics - celebrating its unique weather patterns, landscapes and people.
WrestleMANIA
Rockhampton Museum of Art, QLD
19 November 2022 - 26 February 2023
Professional wrestling is a strange beast. Not quite sport, not quite theatre, it exists in a grey area between forms as a sincere, misunderstood, and yet incredibly self-aware art form. ‘Wrestlemania’ is an examination of this compelling and dynamic entertainment by 20 contemporary sculptors, painters, cartoonists and new media artists responding to wrestling in all its spectacle, psychology and humour.
2 degrees – Euan Macleod and Rodney Pople
Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo NSW
1 October 2022 - 12 February 2023
Friends and well-known Australian artists Euan Macleod and Rodney Pople undertook artist residencies in Dubbo during 2021, observing people and animals at Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Each artist produced sketches and preparatory studies at the Zoo, expanding on these later in the studio. For their first two-person exhibition they have produced large scale paintings and portraits of animals and humans, revealing a sustained engagement with the act of looking and its reverse – being looked at.
Local Knowledge – collaborative paintings by Euan Macleod and Gregory O’Brien
Ashburton Art Gallery, Ashburton NZ
8 October - 11 December 2022
With Euan Macleod based in Sydney and Gregory O’Brien in Wellington, the works in this exhibition are a continuation of a trans-Tasman conversation which began in 2009 when O’Brien was writing a monograph on Macleod’s art. At times painting in the same room, at other times in different countries, Macleod and O’Brien relish their divergent approaches to art-making. As O’Brien writes, the collaborations set ‘a painterly manner (Euan’s) alongside my graphic approach, which is probably closer to drawing than painting. Whereas Euan conjures movement, my image-making is static; his work is visceral, mine cerebral. Such contradictions fuel our ongoing project, forcing both of us to step outside our comfort zone.’
The Gold Award 2022
Rockhampton Museum of Art, Rockhampton QLD
25 February - 15 May 2022
The Gold Award 2022 presents a diverse pool of boundary breaking and thought provoking contemporary Australian art by artists from across the nation. The award is a touchstone of contemporary painting, held every two years where artists are invited to present their practice with new works that have not been exhibited elsewhere before.
Local Knowledge: Collaborative Paintings by Euan Macleod and Gregory O’Brien
He Waka Tuia Art and Museum / Invercargill Public art Gallery, Invercargill, NZ
With Euan Macleod based in Sydney and Gregory O’Brien in Wellington, the works in this exhibition are a continuation of a trans-Tasman conversation which began in 2009 when O’Brien was writing a monograph on Macleod’s art. Upon completion of that project, the exchange of ideas and perspectives migrated to what would soon become an ongoing series of collaborative works on canvas and paper. At times painting in the same room, at other times in different countries, Macleod and O’Brien relish their divergent approaches to art-making.
acrylic on polyester 250x180cm
acrylic on polyester 250x180cm
Stirring the Ash:
Euan Macleod and Andrew Merry
Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW
5 June – 25 July 2021
The collaborative exhibition Stirring the Ash showcases paintings by Euan Macleod and photographs by Andrew Merry. The work, along with the written text by Gregory O'Brien, explores fire as being both a destructive and creative force in the Australian landscape. The exhibition is on now at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery until 25 July.
Dobell Drawing Prize #22
The National Art School (NAS), NSW
26 March – 22 May 2021
In the initial stage of judging, I was surprised by the variety of materials artists use to make drawings. My final decision came down to a fundamental drawing practice, with my top three finalists being Amanda Penrose Heart, Martin King and Euan Macleod. Euan’s work is fast and immediate drawing, describing a landscape in a blur of activity. There is an accurate freshness I am drawn to, making Euan the winner of this year’s Dobell Drawing Prize.
acrylic on paper 58x76cm
acrylic on paper 58x76cm
acrylic on paper 57.5x76cm
acrylic on paper 58x76cm
River to the Sea
Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW
19 March – 18 April 2021
Euan Macleod completed a four day residency with Grafton Regional Gallery in September 2020. His paintings of the Clarence Valley will be held in a group exhibition, 'From the river to the sea' at Grafton Regional Gallery, March 2021.
acrylic on paper 38 x 57cm
acrylic on paper 38 x 57cm
acrylic on paper 38 x 57cm
Double Vision:
Euan Macleod and Ron McBurnie
Tweed Regional Gallery, NSW
20 March – 15 November 2020
In early 2020, artists Euan Macleod and Ron McBurnie spent time in the Gallery’s Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residency Studio. During their residency, the artists worked en plein air both on the Gallery grounds and across the surrounding region. The aim of this residency was to develop a body of work for an exhibition in the Friends Gallery in March 2020.
oil on acrylic on polyester 180x137cm
oil and acrylic on polyester 100x124cm
oil on acrylic on polyester 180x137cm
Belle Ile: Euan Macleod & Luke Sciberras
Manly Regional Art Gallery & Museum
13 July – 2 September 2018
King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
11 June – 6 July 2019
Paintings by Luke Sciberras and Euan Macleod from their recent expedition to Belle Île, off the coast of Brittany, France.
On this pilgrimage, the artists were following in the late 19th Century footsteps of - and paying homage to - expatriate Australian painter John Peter Russell.
oil on polyester 100 x 124 cm
acrylic on polyester 100 x 124 cm
oil on polyester 100 x 124 cm
Salient: Contemporary artists at the Western Front
New England Regional Art Gallery Museum; Bathurst Regional Art gallery; ANZAC Memorial Sydney; Bank Art Museum Moree; Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre; Tweed Regional Gallery
March 2018 – February 2020
In 2017, twelve leading Australian artists visited the First World War battlefields of the Western Front, a century after the conflict that claimed so many lives. This exhibition brings together the works they created in response to their experiences.