LIFE INSPIRES ART

Thepeaks and valleys of life is what inspires Jonathan Mcburnie’s art. The artist, writer and cartoonist’s latest exhibition is being shown at Umbrella Studio.

The body of drawings and mixed-media work, entitled My Mother, Blessed and Cursed with Sons, draws parallels between constructed worlds of art and pro-wrestling.

“This exhibition explores pro wrestling as a strange sort of hybrid art form that it is,” Mcburnie tells NQ Weekend. “Being part performance, part theatre and part entertainment, it is difficult to define and I think a really interesting way of discussing a range of human issues.”

With hundreds of drawings and mixed media works om the exhibition. Mcburnie selected his works from 2018 onwards but most of the work has been made in the past year.

The works included in the exhibition at Umbrella Studio explores the paradoxes, nuances and humour of wrestling in Mcburnie’s signature art style.

Mcburnie is happy to explain the process he goes through from concept to realisation of his work.

“I use collage as a way of composing my images, which allows a sense of play, and helps to differentiate the image from what we understand as an objective reality,” he says. “Then I draw the image in ink and finally colour it, usually with watercolour.”

From 2018 to 2021, Mcburnie worked as the

Creative Director of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and Pinnacles Gallery in Townsville.

The exhibition catalogue features an essay by Drew Connor Holland.

Over his two decades of artistic practice, Mcburnie has earned a dedicated cult following with his prolific output, keen observational drawing and deadpan commentary of contemporary art, exhibitions nationally and abroad.

Mcburnie says the team at Umbrella Studio has worked hard to support his exhibition, and many other artists.

“Umbrella is a great organisation that I am happy to continue to associate with,” he says. “I think they do a brilliant job of serving the community and supporting regional artists, which definitely is a big attraction. This is my first solo exhibition with Umbrella, which I am excited about.”

Mcburnie completed a PHD at the University of Sydney in 2014, examining the shifting role of drawing in the digital age, emphasizing the discipline’s ongoing tenacity through tactility, adaptability and eroticism.

Mcburnie has exhibited all over Australia, as well as in the United States, Finland, Norway, Japan, Korea, Canada and New Zealand.

I think Umbrella Studio do a brilliant job of serving the community and supporting regional artists

My Mother, Bless and Cursed with Son will be exhibited at the Umbrella Contemporary Arts until June 5.