Barbara McKay: Sacred

Barbara McKay is one of Australia’s truly significant female abstract expressionist artists. Acclaimed by renowned American art critic Clement Greenberg but largely overlooked in her homeland, Sacred reveals McKay’s commitment to immersing herself wholly into the gestural expression of the world and environment around her. This is McKay’s first retrospective exhibition and spans more than 50 years of committed art practice.

In 1956 McKay began 5 years of study at the National Art School and was taught by artists such as John Passmore, John Olsen, Godfrey Miller, Ralph Balson, Douglas Dundas and Dorothy Thornhill. After an introduction to a broad range of disciplines, McKay specialised in painting for her diploma. She graduated in 1960 and married fellow National Art School student and sculptor, Ian McKay. The pair travelled extensively overseas and this was instrumental in McKay’s perception of the unique qualities of the Australian landscape and light. In the 1970s McKay began participating in solo shows and was hung in the Wynne Prize twice.

A fateful meeting in 1979 with renowned American art critic Clement Greenberg sparked a 17-year friendship and correspondence in which Greenberg was steadfastly encouraging. McKay visited New York to live and work between 1981 and 1983 and Greenberg introduced her to an artistic circle that were wholly welcoming including Larry Poons and Helen Frankenthaler.

McKay’s paintings are an evocation of her experiences, recollections and understanding of place, most notably Australia. She does not attempt to represent a view or appearance, rather she recreates the feeling or energy of a place through her own visual language.