For over two decades, Moya McKenna’s distinctive painting practice has pushed the medium into deep,
psychological terrains. Much of her recent work draws on personal history and universal themes such
as motherhood, memory and the process of art-making. In doing so, her paintings remind us of the
spaces we inhabit at our most personal, raw and vulnerable, utilising sophisticated, painterly
sensibilities which are at once both abject and sensual.
McKenna’s exhibition at Neon Parc will coincide with the launch of ‘Moya McKenna: Branch line’, the first comprehensive publication on the Australian painter. Published by Drill Hall Publishing.
Moya McKenna was born in Guildford, United Kingdom, 1973 and currently lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne. McKenna holds a Bachelor in Fine Art, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, 1998 and a Diploma in Fine Art, Institute of Technology, Sydney, 1994.
Her most recent solo exhibitions include ‘Mother’s Foot’, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne (2022); ‘A zebra returns’, Neon Parc City, Melbourne (2019); ‘Branch Line’, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney (2013) and ‘Ride’, Station Gallery, Melbourne (2012).
Moya McKenna’s work has been presented in major group exhibitions, including ‘Animal Instinct: Moya McKenna and Albert Tucker’, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2022); ‘Matisse Alive’, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2021); ‘Anywhere but here’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2020); ‘Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize’, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo (2019); ‘Today Tomorrow Yesterday’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2018); ‘Painting. More Painting’, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2016); ‘Shut up and Paint’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2016); ‘Melbourne Now’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2013); ‘Model Pictures’, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne (2011); ‘Change’, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2010); and ‘Primavera’, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2008).
Moya McKenna’s work is held in various public collections, including the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; City of Melbourne, Melbourne; and Bayside City Council; Brighton. She was a studio artist at Gertrude Contemporary between 2009–2010. McKenna was the winner of the Bayside Acquisitive Prize in 2018
