FOR Newcastle artist Josh McGregor the process of exhibiting his art is confronting.
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That’s because the works draw on deeply personal subject matter.
“I do feel it leaves me a bit exposed,” McGregor said. “It’s kind of a big leap because you don’t know how people are going to take it.
“But that’s just the way I paint and it helps me feel less alienated. If someone else sees it and connects with it, then they don’t feel so alienated as well.
“It’s hard doing that style of painting because I am constantly worried about being judged.
“Sometimes I struggle with being articulate, but with painting I’m free and can let it go and it’s very therapeutic.
“I put it on canvas and that feeling is gone. I don’t need to go back to it again.”
His solo exhibition Familiar Sting will open at Art Systems Wickham next month. The title refers to the familiar sting of anxiety many people live with every day.
“I think people will relate to the title. We all deal with it to various degrees,” McGregor said.
The theme flows through to the works themselves.
“They tend to lean toward the darker side of the emotions, but I feel there is a lot more colour in the darker side of the emotions,” McGregor said. “You tend to learn more out of the darker side.”
One of the works to be exhibited, titled Sinking In, depicts a naked man with his back to the viewer. His body looks as thought it has been sliced up and put back together.
“It’s segmented with a long hallway, (painted during) a period of uncertainty. I wasn’t really sure which direction I was going in,” McGregor said of the work.
“I wanted to do something different and I did feel like I was walking down an empty hallway.”
His solo exhibition will open at Art Systems Wickham on August 3.
It features about 18 works, mostly paintings, with a couple of works on paper made with charcoal, pastel and paint. It runs until August 12.
Art Systems Wickham is located at 40 Annie Street, Wickham.