We are thrilled to present the latest release from leading contemporary Australian artist Joseph McGlennon. Titled The Hunt, this spectacular new suite of sweeping, panoramic scenes is a landmark entry in the artist’s celebrated body of work and the culmination of more than a decade of unparalleled photographic mastery.
The Hunt will debut with a special presentation from our offsite projects platform, Michael Reid Beyond, where the works will be staged against the gracefully weathered grandeur of the original colonial homestead at Throsby Park – a suitably handsome setting for the artist’s singular blend of old-world sumptuousness and bold contemporary vision.
The recipient of the 2015 Bowness Photography Prize – the country’s most prestigious award for photography – McGlennon’s work is held in numerous private and public art collections in Australia and abroad. His hybrid photographic practice is underpinned by an extraordinary technical rigour, producing images that meld lavish beauty with a powerful message about environmental fragility, colonial dislocation and the destructive folly of our attempts to dominate nature.
With his majestic recreations of animals in their habitats – from the first kangaroos seen by European eyes to the extinct Tasmanian Tiger fresh from killing its prey – the artist brings his subjects out of the realm of exotic specimen or historical curiosity and pushes them, living and breathing, into today.
Drawing on the primal tooth-and-claw drama of a 17th-century European deer hunt reimagined in the New World of colonial Australia, The Hunt marks a dazzling departure from the orthodoxies of contemporary photography by paying homage to the great Flemish painter Frans Snyders.
Looking back across time to march contemporary art forward, this collection of six new photographs channels the emotional elements of Snyder’s style: attention to detail, dramatic lighting and rich textures. These absorbing details add depth and complexity to the narrative, emphasising the interplay between light and shadow and creating a sense of movement within each image.
The components of these sprawling, tapestry-like scenes were all captured on a trip through the rugged outback landscapes around Castle Rock in the Flinders Ranges area of South Australia. After shooting hundreds of individual photographs, McGlennon spends weeks layering and arranging them to arrive at his final composition.
“Throsby Park is a property of national significance, marking one of the first European settlements outside Sydney and the opening of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. The Throsby Park Historic Site includes the 75-hectare core of the 400-hectare grant given to Dr. Charles Throsby in 1819. This rare, surviving property offers a strong sense of continuity from its early colonial origins and continuous family ownership. It symbolizes early colonial Australia and the lifestyle of its wealthier members, reflecting its use as an intense commercial mixed farm until Charles Throsby’s death in 1856.
The site is an intact example of a high-quality, intensely farmed cultural landscape that spurred rural expansion and squatting empires. It features rare 1830s farm buildings, played a key role in developing the colonial beef export industry, and is now known for equestrian activities. The property also contains archaeological deposits offering insights into its colonial activities. Conrad Martens celebrated Throsby Park’s qualities in a 1836 painting.
Throsby Park House, the centerpiece, possibly influenced by John Verge, is a significant milestone in Australian rural architecture. An early example of the ‘large verandahed cottage’ style, it sits atop a hill overlooking Moss Vale, making a strong visual statement with its position and surrounding landscape. The house, along with its furniture, represents the blend of English architectural demands, colonial climate, building conditions, and the aspirations of its builder.”
Michael Reid OAM
To receive a preview of The Hunt by Joseph McGlennon, please email dean@michaelreid.com.au
