NOEL MCKENNA

Born: 1956 Queensland

• Contemporary
• Painter
• Established

NOEL McKENNA

Born in Brisbane, Queensland, 1956, Noel studied architecture at Queensland University in 1974 and 1975. He continued his education at Brisbane College of Art from 1976 to 1978 and then at Alexander Mackie College, Sydney in 1981. Since then he has exhibited extensively in Australia and overseas, holding solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart, as well as Korea, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He currently lives and works in Sydney.


SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2003 Noel McKenna: Animal works 1977-2003, Dubbo Regional Gallery, New South Wales and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Victoria then touring 2005
Australia, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
2002 Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
2001 Found and Lost, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
John Batten Gallery, Hong Kong
Bowen Galleries, Wellington, New Zealand
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
S.M.H. Watercolours 1997-2001, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
2000 Southland, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
1999 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
1998 Bowen Galleries, Wellington, New Zealand
Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
1997 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1995 Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
1994 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1993 Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
12 Sturt Street, Sydney
1992 Roz MacAllen Gallery, Brisbane
Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Ars Multiplicata, Sydney
1991 12 Sturt Street, Sydney
1990 Recent Works, Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
Salamanca Place Gallery, Hobart
1990 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1989 Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1988 Chameleon Gallery, Tasmania
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1987 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1987 Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1985 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1983 Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
1981 Memorial Fine Arts Gallery, University of Sydney, New South Wales
1979 Kelvin Grove CAE Gallery, Brisbane
1978 Kelvin Grove CAE Gallery, Brisbane




GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2003 Sceggs Redlands Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
Mosman Prize Exhibition, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
Open Gallery – Banner Project, City of Sydney, Sydney
A Modelled World, McClelland Gallery, Victoria
Fair Game: Art & Sport, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2002 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2001 Ready, Set…Go! Sporting Life and Australian Art, Global Arts Link, Queensland
All Creatures Great and Small, Gold Treasury Museum, Melbourne
Melbourne Savage Club Aquisitive Art Prize, Savage Club, Mebourne
2000 PARIHAKA The Art of Passive Resistance, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1999 Pets, Prey and Predators, Mosman Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales and touring
Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Persuasive Humour, Mosman Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales
On the Road – The Car in Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
1998 Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1996 Fifth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
Muswellbrook Acquisitive Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Gallery, New South Wales
1994 Fourth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Dobell Prize for Drawing Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Salon des Refuses, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Paint on the Tracks, Australian Artists and the Railway, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1993 Death, curated by F. Fenner and A. Loxley, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
On the Other Hand, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Observing Sydney, View of and from Observatory Hill, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1992 Small Works – Wide Vision, Downlands Art Exhibition, Toowoomba, Queensland
Third Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
Salon des Refuses, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Collecting Art, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney
The New Metaphysics, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
1991 Moët et Chandon Touring Exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and touring
Agape – An Exhibition of Sculpture, King Street Gallery on Burton, Sydney
One, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Correspondences, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
The A & L Pedersen Memorial Prizes for Drawing and Small Sculpture, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Her Story – Images of Domestic Labour in Australian Art, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney
1990 Second Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne
Celebrating the Centenary of Morandi’s Birth, Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Visual Instincts, Holdsworth Galleries, Sydney
Niagara Galleries at Hill-Smith Fine Art Gallery, Adelaide
(Group exhibitions continued)
1990 Painters' Sculpture, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1989 Scotchman’s Hill Art Prize, Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1988 First Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
9 x 5 x mail, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Queensland and touring
A Horse Show - Horse in Contemporary Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Heidelberg and Heritage, Linden Gallery, Melbourne
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
New Art Three, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1987 Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
Aberdare Art Prize for Landscape, Ipswich City Council Gallery, Queensland
1986 Fremantle Drawing Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia
1986 Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Chameleon Gallery, Tasmania
1985 Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia
Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1984 Garry Anderson Gallery, Sydney
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1983 & 84 Henri Worland Memorial Print Award, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria
Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1982 Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1981 Art, Empire, Industry, Young Painters, Sydney
Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
1980 L.H Harvey Memorial Prize for Drawing, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

GRANTS AND AWARDS

2003 Mosman Prize, Mosman Art Gallery
2002 Trustees Wynne Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
2001 Australia Council, New Work Grant
2001 Melbourne Savage Club 2001 Art Prize for Painting, Melbourne
2001 Trustees Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1999 Trustees Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1997 Trustees Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1995 Muswellbrook Acquisitive Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Gallery
1994 Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
1992 Australia Council, Artists Development Grant

COLLECTIONS

Allen, Allen & Hemsley Collection, Sydney
Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Brisbane City Council, Queensland
Chartwell Collection, New Zealand
Ipswich City Council Art Gallery, Queensland
Joseph Brown Collection, Victoria
Latrobe Valley Arts Centre, Victoria
Manly Shire Council, Sydney
Macquarie Bank, Sydney
Mornington Peninsular Arts Centre, Victoria
Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales
Muswellbrook Regional Gallery, New South Wales
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
New Parliament House, Canberra
Newcastle Region Art Gallery, New South Wales
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Queensland University of Technology Art Collection, Brisbane
Rockhampton Art Gallery, Queensland
University of Western Australia, Perth
Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales
Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria
Western Mining Collection, Western Australia
Private collections in Australia and overseas

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS/CATALOGUES
Laura Murray Cree, Awesome! Australian Art for Contemporary Kids, Craftsman House, Sydney, 2002
Gregory O’Brien, After bathing at Baxter’s: essays and notebooks, Victoria University Press, 2002
Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2002
Found and Lost, exhibition catalogue, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 2001
Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2001
Christopher Heathcote, Bernard Smith and Terry Smith, Australian Painting 1788-2000, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001
Damien Wilkins, Southland, exhibiton catalogue, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, 2000
Parihaka, exhibition catalogue, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000
Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, Greenaway Art Gallery, 2000
Gregory O'Brien, Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 1999
Heat 5, Australia’s International Literary Quarterly, Giramondo Publishing, 1997
Robin Wallace-Crabbe, Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, National Portrait Gallery, 1997
Neville Drury, Images 2 - Contemporary Australian Painting, Craftsman House, 1994
Anne Loxley, Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 1994
G. Fry, Paint on the Tracks, Australian Artists and the Railway, exhibition catalogue, S H Ervin Gallery, New South Wales
Felicity Fenner, The New Metaphysics, exhibition catalogue, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, New South Wales
Sarah Thomas, Noel McKenna, exhibition catalogue, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, 1992
Small Works - Wide Vision, Downlands Art Exhibition, Queensland
Glenn R. Cooke, exhibition catalogue, 1991
Anne Loxley, exhibition catalogue, 1991
Philip Rich, exhibition catalogue, 1991
Anne Loxley, exhibition catalogue, Salamanca Place Gallery, Tasmania, 1990
Nevill Drury, New Art Three, Craftsman House Press, 1989
Daniel Thomas, Outlines in Australian Art - The Joseph Brown Collection, Macmillan, 3rd ed, 1989

ARTICLES/REVIEWS
Ashley Crawford, ‘Artistic differences’, The Age, 17 December, 2003
Susan Owens, ‘To canvas the racetrack moment’, Silks, Winter, 2003
Glenn Barkley, ‘Op-shop aesthetic’, Lino, Issue 1, March 2003
Jeff Makin, ‘The many hues of blue’, The Herald Sun, 10 March, 2003
Elena Taylor and Rebecca Chandler, ‘Sculpture in focus’, Artonview, Autumn 2003
‘Artist’s Questionnaire – Noel McKenna’, A Public of Individuals, No.4 February, 2003
Elizabeth Sarks, ’50 Most Collectable Artists’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 23 January, 2003
‘Noel McKenna: Jacob Lawrence box’, Australian Style, February 2002
Peter Hill, ‘Exhibitions: bird of paradox, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 September 2002
Anne Loxley, ‘The drama of drawing, from three different angles’, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 29, 2001
Lenny Ann Low, ‘Juice gigolo’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 August, 2001
(Articles/Reviews continued)
Simon Plant, ‘More than meets the eye’, The Herald Sun, 1 August 2001
Megan Backhouse, ‘Found, a lost cause’, The Age, 11 December 2001
Victoria Hynes, ‘Just add watercolour’, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 24, 2001
Judith White, ‘Art’s law’, Look: Art Gallery of New South Wales, March 2001
Raymong Gill, ‘Art fair attracts usual controversy’, The Age, 5 October 2000
Robert Nelson, ‘Heide’s show of driving ambition’, The Sunday Age, 6 February 2000
Robert Nelson, The Age, August 1999
Wendy Walker, The Advertiser, 14 June 1999
Felicity Fenner, ‘Noel McKenna: Artists’ Artist’, Australian Art Collector, Issue 9, July 1999
Bruce James, The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 January 1999
Gregory O’Brien, Overland, Autumn, 1997
Robert Rooney, The Australian, 19 September 1997
Anna Clabburn, The Herald Sun, 10 September 1997
Stephanie Radok, ‘Viva la vida’, The Adelaide Review, July 1995
Anne Loxley, ‘Death: A Post Mortem’, Artline, vol 14, no 4. 1995
Raymond Gill, ‘Diverse art abound by an unsettling melancholy’, The Age, 7 September 1994
Christopher Heathcote, The Age, 7 September 1994
Felicity Fenner, The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 September 1994
Elwyn Lynn, Weekend Australian, 9 April 1994
Joanna Mendelssohn, The Bulletin, 29 March 1994
Christopher Heathcote, Art Monthly, March 1993
Lynn Fern, The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 May 1993
Leigh Raymond, Sydney Observer, No. 207 16 April1993 (illustrated)
Robert Rooney, The Australian, 11 October 1992
Bronwyn Watson, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 December 1992
Elwyn Lynn, The Australian, 5 December 1992
Robert Rooney, The Australian, 10 October 1992
Christopher Heathcote, The Age, 30 September 1992
Oz Arts, (illustrated) Issue 3 1992
Vogue Living, (illustrated) April No. 3, 1992
Jacques Delaruelle, Art Monthly, June 1991
Robert Rooney, The Australian, 7 December 1991
Christopher Allen, The Sydney Review, December 1991
Joerg Andersch, The Mercury, October 1991
Joanna Mendelssohn, The Bulletin, 22 October 1991
Felicity Fenner, The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 1991
Michael Richards, The Courier Mail, 7 May 1991
Gary Catalano, The Age, 2 January 1991
Diane Lloyd, Australian Jewish News, 29 June 1990
Robert Rooney, The Australian, 26 May 1990
Gary Catalano, The Age, 16 May 1990
Robert Rooney, The Australian, 3 December 1988
Carol Marando, Eastern Herald, (Sydney Morning Herald), 4 August 1988
Bronwyn Watson, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July 1988
Gary Catalano, The Age, 30 June 1988
Elwyn Lynn, The Australian, 5 December 1987
Ronald Millar, Melbourne Herald, 9 November 1988
Bruce Adams, The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 March 1987
Yvonne Selecki, Follow Me, September 1987
Clinton Walker, Stiletto Magazine, 1 November 1984
Ronald Millar, Melbourne Herald, 4 April 87
Terence Maloon, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 September 1983