Fields of Research (FoR)

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Research interests

Dr Tarn McLean is an artist and designer holding a Doctor of Philosophy in Visual Art from the University of Southern Queensland. Her work departs from a highly disciplined practice embedded in early to mid 20th Century Geometric Abstract and Non-Objective painting to the design of space and architecture, including wall painting and public art as well as textile, wallpaper and accessory design.
McLean’s practice is concerned with painterly properties at their most fundamental level including pigment, shape, line, form and perspective. With a focus on colour (often inspired by those arranged in botanicals and nature) and it’s perspectival movement upon random placement, her Colour Series works are reflective of the spatial organization of colour, revealing how its combination interacts with and effects visual perception. Through this, pictorial illusion is replaced by a purity of constructed form as seen in her other works that sit outside the frame. These works include shaped canvases, textile design and wall paintings, as well as her current Seeing Painting series, link directly with painterly possibilities in fashion and product design as well as architecture.
McLean’s paintings are engaged with the transparency of the canvas and layers of pigment “that prompt the viewer to look a little longer, to take their time with ‘seeing’ the experience rather than gazing at the digital image. How can painting offer a way to disrupt the viewer’s way of seeing and experiencing the world around them on a more active and conceptual level?” Her dialogue is open to the possibilities that the screen is favorable to muting these interpretive behaviours, while perhaps it is painting that continues to engage and challenge them.

Industry affiliations

Board member of the Child Writes Fund.