Latest exhibition a labour of love and time

27 September 2018

Laith McGregor’s ‘Borrowed Time’ opens at Tweed Regional Gallery

Borrowed Time, opening on Friday 5 October, brings together new and recent works by leading contemporary Australian artist Laith McGregor, focusing on the themes of time and labour.

For McGregor, time is both a subject matter for his work, as well being a tangible measure of the artist’s labour.

Laith McGregor was born in Nambour, Queensland in 1977 and currently lives and works between Byron Bay and Bali, Indonesia. He completed a Diploma of Visual Arts at Cooloola Institute of TAFE in 1999 before continuing his studies in Brisbane and Melbourne, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 2007. McGregor has exhibited throughout Australia and overseas, including the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane; and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

While best known for his highly detailed, large-scale biro and pencil portraits, in recent years Laith’s practice has become increasingly collaborative and now encompasses printmaking, sculpture and video, in addition to drawing and painting - all of which are represented the in this exhibition at Tweed.

As part of the exhibition, McGregor has engaged three local high school teachers to collaborate on a new largescale wall drawing titled Past 2018. The ephemeral work will exist only for the duration of the exhibition before being painted over. Tweed Regional Gallery Director Susi Muddiman OAM encourages everyone to visit the Gallery and see the work before it disappears.

“This work offers a great opportunity for members of our community to see the results of an artist’s collaboration with educators of our region,” Ms Muddiman said.

The opening celebrations will be held at the Gallery on Friday 12 October. At 5.15pm the artist and exhibition curator, Hamish Sawyer, will give an exhibition preview floor talk. At 6pm, Hamish Sawyer will officially open the exhibition.

Borrowed Time is presented in partnership with Caloundra Regional Gallery and will be on display until Sunday 2 December.

Downloads

Photo 1(JPG, 264KB)

Caption: Laith McGregor, This Old Night 2017, pencil on paper 211.5 x 17 cm. Courtesy the artist; Station, Melbourne; and Starkwhite, Auckland.

Photo 2(JPG, 97KB)

Caption: Laith McGregor, St Petersburg 2014, wood, plastic, clay, steel, acrylic and enamel, 26 x 30 cm. Donated by Laith McGregor through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program. Sunshine Coast Art Collection.