Wei-Ling Gallery is pleased to present Autograph, a solo exhibition by renowned Australian painter, Stewart MacFarlane.

Autograph makes for the artist’s fourth solo show with the gallery and features paintings on canvas – both large and small scale – as well as a limited edition Giclee print.

Stewart MacFarlane’s work powerfully employs the gift of sight then invites the other four senses to indulge in the narrative experience. The common threads of intrigue and movement tie each of the works in Autograph together. They are a reflection of MacFarlane’s own career as an itinerant artist, often wondering as to the hidden meaning of things, what might happen next and how to interpret the past.

“The paintings on which his reputation has been built are striking, bold and, at times, abrasive. He interprets modern popular culture in a series of vignettes exploring the seamy side of life, a place of the imagination, television and the B-grade film noir genre. But the coarseness of the subject matter can be deceiving, for each work is presented as a vibrant exercise in colour and slashing brushwork, all designed into an elegant one-shot drama.

The portraits and character studies, along with the rooms, architecture and landscapes, the stages on which his human dramas are played out, depict a darkened city street, a languorous nude or a rock star on stage, the strength of his statement is clear, there is nothing apprehensive in the images presented.”

– Gavin Fry (Extract from ‘Persistence’ catalogue), 2015

Stewart MacFarlane (b. 1953) has held over 50 solo exhibitions of his work in Australia, the United States, Asia and Germany. His distinctive artworks can be found in the permanent collections of major public galleries and academic institutions throughout Australia including the National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Curtin University Gallery in Perth, Monash University in Melbourne and Griffith University in Brisbane, as well as in the United States at the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art in Roswell, New Mexico and Provincetown Museum and Art Center in Massachusetts.

He has also been honoured with countless international awards and residencies, including a fellowship from MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire, USA and residencies in Besozzo Studio, Italy, the Bemis Centre for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska USA and at Roswell, New Mexico, USA with the Roswell Museum & Art Centre. Within Australia he has taken part in various residencies in universities around Australia and was the winner of the Alice Prize from the Alice Springs Art Foundation.

Additionally, the artist has 2 monograph titles to his name; the first entitled Stewart MacFarlane, Riddles of Life, by Veronique Helmridge-Marsillian published under Craftsman House in 1996 and the most recent one entitled Stewart MacFarlane: Paintings by Nicholas Jose and Timothy Morrell marks the publication of his first major monograph and explores four decades of the artist’s work featuring over 200 colour plates in a 380 page book.

Autograph will begin showing at Wei-Ling Gallery on the 2nd of November and will continue until the 30th of November 2015.

Wei-Ling Gallery is located at No. 8, Jalan Scott, Brickfields, 50470, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Please call 0322601106 or email weiling.shaz@gmail.com for more information.