LAITH MCGREGOR - BASED ON A TRUE FABLE
I am reminded of a ghost that once followed me.
When I was young I had an imaginary friend. I would see a figure about the
house and outside in the yard. This imaginary friend had a name, a title I had
personally given to him after being unable to situate his identity. His name was
Water-Face. Only recently has it become apparent that I gave him this name simply
because of the lack of identifying features, or perhaps his changing features, for
his face looked to me like moving water. Having an imaginary friend at the time
absolutely scared my mother. I was the only one who could see him, but at the
same time, my Mum said she could hear and sometimes feel a presence. As I grew
up with this memory, I have repeatedly considered its meaning and significance.
What I was seeing was a male phantom, a phantasm of a masculine identity. But
what did this male figure represent to me at such a young age and what
significance did the figure have in reoccurring through my dreams and thoughts?
I have often wondered if this friend has guided my beliefs with the presentation
of the water visage, which possibly acted as a role-playing device. It seemed
Water-Face was beginning to develop a continuous deployment of masks and
performances, with an objective to form questions in my minds eye. His lack of
identity has allowed for questions concerning the significance of the guise, the
substance of the self and how we present ourselves to the world.
One of my last memories of this imaginary friend was of him sitting on a stump
outside my window. He stairs blankly towards me. No emotion on his face. Did I
imagine this character taking on a fatherly role, or was he a friend, maybe I imposed
different identities on him at my discretion?
He was lone figure, a ghost, the ghost who walks. Is everyone a ghost wandering
for purpose? It is this apparition that I attempt to locate within the current body
of work. He has become the ghost of everyone, in everyone, a figure who stands
somewhere between the real and the subconscious. Let’s call him Noel.
Laith McGregor 2008
A recent addition to SSFA, Laith McGregor graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art
(Honours) from the Victorian Collage of the Arts in 2007, after first graduating
with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Major in Painting) in 2006. Included in numerous
group exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, he has had three
solo exhibitions, including Goodbye tata at Helen Gory Gallery, Melbourne in 2006,
and Shape It Anyway You Like at Melbourne’s TBC Gallery in 2008. In 2008 he
won the prestigious Robert Jacks Drawing Prize at the Bendigo Regional Art
Gallery, and was awarded a residency and exhibition at Queensland’s Institute of
Modern Art through the New Fresh Cut program. In 2007 he was the recipient of
the Tania Brougham Award and in 2006 he was awarded the National Gallery
Women’s Association Award. McGregor’s work is held in several private and public
collections including the Joyce Nissen Collection and Artbank.
McGregor primarily works in two highly contrasting mediums – oil on canvas,
and the unconventional medium of ‘biro’ on paper. McGregor draws on illusionary
material to convey a sense of the uncanny in his work. The characters within each
‘portrait’ are derived from both factual and fictitious realms including hero
worship and personal family stories. The ambiguous and surreal qualities that
result from McGregor’s practice highlight the grey areas that exist between
fiction and non-fiction.