Brendan McGorry

The Alisha and Hazel Project

This ongoing series documents the life of a disabled woman and her child, tracing their relationship and growth over time. It’s not a narrative of hardship, but one of presence, achievement, and visibility. Each piece captures moments—sometimes quiet, sometimes vibrant—that reflect the everyday realities and milestones of parenting, mobility, and …

The Promised Land

19 Elm Row, Dunedin City 2021 A new mural overlooking Dunedin City by Brendan McGorry that celebrates the culture and landscape of the Otago region through a re-shuffle and reimagining of iconic works from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Under a bright Matariki sky and between a Southern Rata and …

“The Belle Epoque Project” Video

“Here We Are Now” Project Video

‘The Barnes Project’ Video

Art New Zealand winter 2018. Essay by Michael Wilson

“The Death of Painting” 2016 Charcoal chalk & acrylic on canvas 1500 x 1200mm Brendan McGorry and The Belle Epoque by Michael Wilson The Death of Painting . . . . As a beginning art student, I was fond of taunting anyone who still insisted on wielding a brush and …

“The Barnes Project” at Sanderson Contemporary March 12-31 2019

Seurat Punked, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 1600mm x 2000mm private collection Following a recent visit to the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, McGorry again looks to art history and a lineage of painting to inform his very contemporary style of painting. Recreating the eclectic feel of the Barnes Foundation through …

“Stellar” Project Video Sanderson Contemporary 2017

“Stellar” at Sanderson Contemporary May 2-21 2017

Stellar (2017), an installation of portraits of early and modern masters from the Renaissance to Abstract Expressionism, introduced McGorry’s favourite and influential artists into the space of the gallery. Adopting the tondo, a circular form for portraiture that has its origins in the Renaissance, he populated the gallery walls …

NZ Herald 2016, Long live the art of Painting a Review by T.J McNamara

“The Death of Painting” What: The Death of Painting by Brendan McGorry Where and when: Sanderson Contemporary Art, 2 Kent St, Newmarket, to September 4 TJ says: Brendan McGorry turns the colour and manner of 19th century art on its head Increasingly galleries are mounting the work of two artists …

“The Death of Painting” at Sanderson Contemporary 16 August to 04 September 2016

For this new series of works McGorry cites the pre-Raphaelite period. Taking prime examples of paintings in the era that are etched into our visual memory, McGorry re-works their composition to create contemporary works. This meshing of art historical references and contemporary imagery is a consistent theme in his oeuvre …

“We are a shared band we come from shed land”

This work will be in the summer show ADVENT opening this 5 pm Tuesday 1 Dec at Sanderson Contemporary, Newmarket . All welcome. “Fusion” 2015 chalk charcoal and acrylic on canvas 1200 x 1800mm “The Two Fridas” Frida Kahlo 1939

“Great Expectations” the new show 2015

Reviewed by T.J McNamara N.Z Herald “How Soon is Now” acrylic and charcoal on canvas 1500x1700mm The Arts House Trust Collection “Great Expectations I” acrylic and charcoal on canvas 1200x1500mm Private Collection “Great Expectations II” acrylic and charcoal on canvas 1200x1500mm Private Collection “Alliya Edward and Cornwall Park” acrylic and charcoal …

“Call Me I Love You” NZ Sculpture on Shore 2014

“Call Me I Love You” Exhibited as part of NZ Sculpture on Shore 2014 Part phone box, part temple, part confessional this work is dedicated to our desire to commune with those we love. The work considers the history of human communication from cave painting to the ubiquitous mobile phone. …

“The Belle Epoque Project” September 24, 2014

Opening Wednesday 5.30pm September 24 at Sanderson Herne Bay, 122 Jervois Rd (cnr of Clarence St) until 18 October. Artists Talk 6pm, Wednesday 15 October in association with Auckland Art Week Primarily self-taught, Brendan McGorry engages with references and allegories drawn from historical European paintings, which he intertwines with his own personal genealogy to reflect …

“Here we are now” in the sculpture garden Wallace Trust Pah Homestead until 9 November

I have envisioned a protagonist in post apocalypse Paris dragging canvases from the ruins of the Musee d‘Orsay to build a shelter then retreating inside like cave dwellers of the past and trying to make sense of this new world by drawing on the walls. . The internal drawings …

“Holy of Holies” 2012 Project Gallery

“Holy of Holies” Exhibited as part of NZ Sculpture on Shore The work is a playful look at our obsession with temple building; the circus of tourism that goes with it and the odd practice of claiming one piece of earth is more sacred than another. This dome claims a …

“Gods little Launderette” Project Gallery

“Mangled Destiny” Project Gallery

“The Persistence of Time” Project Gallery

“The Arrival and Departure of Childhood” Window project

2011 “The Arrival and Departure of Childhood” Window project, Symonds St Auckland 2700 x 2200 x 800mm Degas 1872 “Le foyer de la danse a l’Opera de la rue Le Peletier” Magritte 1938 drawing for “Time Transfixed” Dali 1931 detail “The Persistence of memory”

“Skins” Billboard Project

“Victory over Death” Billboard, Beach Rd Auckland Skins the Website

“Whoops there goes another year”

“Whoops there goes another year” 2012, acrylic and charcoal on board 1200x1500mm finalist Wallace Trust Awards, private collection Velasquez 1656 “Las Meninas”

“Holy of Holies” Project Video

“The Persistence of Time” Project Video

“The death of everyday”

“The death of everyday” charcoal and oil on board 1200 x 1500 mm Arts House Trust Collection Jacques-Louis David 1793 “The Death of Marat”

“Walking home through the forrest”

The series was composed as an installation of 10 small portrait paintings arranged in front of a 3 x 4 metre charcoal drawing. The drawing depicted lighthouses as symbols of a light that leads the way, with unravelling legs that spiral down through the drawing, becoming flowering strands of DNA, …

“The battle for the rebirth of Tahuna Torea”

Estuary inspires winning artwork 2010, charcoal and oil on board ,1200 x 1500 mm Winner of Estuary Artworks Award, Auckland City Council Collection

“The accident of birth and the failure of free will”

2010, 1875x 1300 x 330mm, charcoal,acrylic, plywood and recycled timber. Finalist Wallace Trust Award 2010

“The heart is a lonely hunter”

“The heart is a lonely hunter” 2010, 1500 x 1200mm, oil and charcoal on canvas, Private Collection I originally painted this for an Erotica Show at Uxbridge Arts Centre, after looking at the work of Eric Fischl and his take on spatial, domestic and sexual tension particularly the Krefeld Project. The …