Hollywood as a metaphysical space, or industry, rather than a suburb of Los Angeles
Artist
McBurnie, Jonathan
Production date
2018
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Object Detail
Title
Hollywood as a metaphysical space, or industry, rather than a suburb of Los Angeles
Production date
2018
Medium
ink and watercolour on paper
Measurements
38 x 28 cm
Object type
Interpretive text
Jonathan McBurnie is an artist, writer and cartoonist based in Rockhampton, Australia. Born in 1983, McBurnie began self-publishing comic books at the age ten. He has a PhD from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney (2015) and is the current Director of Rockhampton Museum of Art. McBurnie is a published writer for publications including Eyeline, Catalogue, The Lifted Brow, Huxley, Penthouse Australia, the Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, and Sneaky, where he was the Visual Arts Editor.
This drawing is part of a body of work dating from 2007-2022 which explore his ongoing interest in parallels between the performative aspects of wrestling and maintaining creative practice amid his ongoing recovery from a serious illness. In 2022 Mcburnie described wrestling as a fascinating paradox: “on one level it’s a fiction with planned storylines and predetermined victories and losses; and on another level it’s all too real with a high physical toll, frequent injuries and subsequent self-medication.” Shown in the 2021 Artspace Mackay exhibition title BIRDLAND, this work is created in McBurnie’s distinct visual aesthetic, whereby he combines found, vintage imagery in surreal collages, then inked in pen and watercolour. BIRDLAND combined works created in McBurnie’s studio, alongside residencies at the Arteles Creative Center, Hämeenkyrö, Finland and the Broken Hill Art Exchange between 2018 and 2022.
Artspace Mackay 2023
This drawing is part of a body of work dating from 2007-2022 which explore his ongoing interest in parallels between the performative aspects of wrestling and maintaining creative practice amid his ongoing recovery from a serious illness. In 2022 Mcburnie described wrestling as a fascinating paradox: “on one level it’s a fiction with planned storylines and predetermined victories and losses; and on another level it’s all too real with a high physical toll, frequent injuries and subsequent self-medication.” Shown in the 2021 Artspace Mackay exhibition title BIRDLAND, this work is created in McBurnie’s distinct visual aesthetic, whereby he combines found, vintage imagery in surreal collages, then inked in pen and watercolour. BIRDLAND combined works created in McBurnie’s studio, alongside residencies at the Arteles Creative Center, Hämeenkyrö, Finland and the Broken Hill Art Exchange between 2018 and 2022.
Artspace Mackay 2023
Credit line
Mackay Regional Council Art Collection, gift of the artist 2022.
Accession number
2022.71
