Julian Meagher: Triple Rainbow
2 February – 28 April 2024
Julian Meagher’s latest exhibition Triple Rainbow is a series of hyper-romantic artworks by Australian painter Julian Meagher, focusing specifically on landscapes from around Mudgee. During his recent visit to the region, the artist became fascinated with the subliminal transition from the night cycle into day. As a result the paintings emerge almost as ‘dreamscapes’, blurring the line between what is real and what is imagined. As the exhibition title suggests, Julian continues to use the rainbow as a symbol of extreme hope and unconditional love.
Julian’s figurative works depict his children adrift in their own dreamscapes. All titled Rapid Eye Movement, these paintings also reflect on the subliminal space between day and night, waking reality and the deep subconscious journey between sleep cycles. They are deeply personal but also universal – existing as a loving record of a moment in time. Without any interaction from the subject matter, the paintings immerse us into a voyeuristic escape with the representation of peacefulness, compelling us to momentarily forget our daily mundanities.
A masterful manipulator of oil paint, Julian applies thin, translucent layers that are intensely blended and also removed with rags. He subsequently veils and gently drips over the initial layers, reacting to what is underneath, thereby creating fleeting opportunities to achieve his trademark pared-back effect. The final art works breathe with a meditative quality and stillness.
The landscapes around Mudgee, particularly Triple Rainbow over Mount Frome will be instantly recognisable to local residents, capturing the ephemeral moment one’s eyes adjust to the colour of the new morning light. The fleeting, fractured rainbow is mirrored throughout the series, breaking down the everyday into moments of divine poetry.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Julian Meagher is a contemporary Australian artist known for his distinctive hyper-romantic, restrained landscapes. Born in 1978 in Sydney, he showed an early interest in art and was encouraged to paint by his mother. He took lessons at the Julian Ashton Art School, later topping the state in art for the HSC.
Julian started a medical degree before returning to study art at the Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy in the atelier tradition. In his late twenties he began to work full-time as an artist and was also a director of Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney for a decade.
He has been a finalist for the Archibald Prize, painting actor John Waters in 2014, singer Daniel Johns in 2015, novelist Richard Flanagan in 2016 and political activist and former Socceroo, Craig ‘Fozzy’ Foster AM in 2021.
Julian has also been a finalist in the Glover Prize in 2019, the Wynne Prize in 2015 and the Gold Award at Rockhampton Art Gallery 2016. He has also been a finalist multiple times in the Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Salon des Refusés, Metro Art Prize, The Blake Prize for Religious Art and the RBS Emerging Artist Prize. He has had many exhibitions in Australia as well as in Asia and America. His work is included in numerous public collections including The Australian War Memorial, Canberra, The National Portrait Gallery, Canberra and Artbank.
Triple Rainbow: Julian Meagher
Mudgee Arts Precinct
2 February – 28 April 2024
For more information: julianmeagher.com.au
Julian is represented by Yavuz Gallery, Sydney and Singapore.
Image credit: Julian Meagher Triple Rainbow over Mount Frome (detail) 2024 © the artist