Noel McKenna

Residency: April – May 2014

“Noel McKenna – a perambulist and bicycle rider to this day, he believes it is the best way to discover the spirit of a place.” Glenn Barkley.

A series of new paintings by Sydney artist Noel Mckenna, Two Rooms’ international artist in residence, form an anecdotal visual narrative of his walking excursions around the streets and up the volcanic hills and mountains – Mt Eden, One Tree Hill, Mt Wellington, Pigeon Mountain – of Auckland’s eastern suburbs. “McKenna’s ritual of daily walking, alert to the elements of surprise and happenstance along the way, indulges his appetite for the occasional, the unrehearsed, the unexplained and is fundamental to McKenna’s art” writes his close friend, writer/poet Gregory O’Brien. For instance, walking through Cornwall Park, McKenna came accrossa solitary archer at target practice, which resulted in a signature painting for the exhibition.