Brendan McGorry

Sanderson are pleased to present the exhibition Hero featuring a new body of works by Brendan McGorry. McGorry (b.1966) is a contemporary painter who lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The artist is known for his distinctive painting style: with bold, striking arrangements of colour and linear use of...

Through either abandonment or happenstance, artists have left paintings unfinished. By doing so, they have revealed their artistic process and fed into an age-old fascination with the inner workings of the artist’s studio. Notable unfinished works that have influenced McGorry include Leonardo da Vinci’s La Scapigliata, with its highly refined...

When The Storm Ends is Brendan McGorry’s artistic and productive response to New Zealand’s COVID-afflicted lockdown. The suite of works draw on both renowned art historical work as well as Brendan’s own personal history and journey through the pandemic. The overarching and reoccurring symbol of the exhibition is the rainbow,...

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 charcoal rendering directly on the wall surrounding the repositioned historical compositions. With...

In this new body of work Noir, McGorry offers the viewer an almost cinematic experience. Each of the works have interwoven elements, connected subject matter and a strongly defined palette. The viewer is immersed in this stylistic approach which acts as a reel of celluloid film flicking a repeated protagonist...

Brendan McGorry shows a series of portraits of artists throughout history mapping a solar system of influences. While Yoshiko Nakahara's intricate and highly detailed drawings look at the microscopic beauty of the natural world. Yoshiko's focus in this new series focuses on the healing properties of rain and plants -...

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 This meshing of art historical references and contemporary imagery is a consistent theme in his...

As a thoughtful observer of the world around him, Brendan McGorry is fascinated by human-made systems, and he scrutinises these structures through his multifaceted art practice incorporating drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation. McGorry’s work seems to poke at the notion that money, fame, power and ownership are the common measures...

EVENT: ARTWEEK AUCKLAND As part of ArtWeek Auckland, Brendan will giving at artist talk in the gallery at 6pm on Wednesday 15 October. Please join us as Brendan talks about The Belle Epoque Project and admire the beautiful site-specific work that has taken over the gallery space. Read more here....

We are pleased to present the first solo exhibition at City Art Rooms by painter Brendan McGorry. Primarily self-taught, McGorry engages with references and allegories drawn from historical European paintings. Especially inspired by Italian masters of the Renaissance period, the narrative in McGorry's work is also concerned with his personal...