Fintan Magee is a social realist painter, specialising in large-scale murals. Born
in 1985 in Lismore, New South Wales, to a landscape architect mother and
father who was a sculptor, he started drawing at a young age. His earlier large-
scale paintings often inhabited the isolated, abandoned and broken corners of
the city, and today are found all over the world including in London, Vienna,
Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Moscow, Rome,
Jordan, and Dublin amongst others.
Magee’s practice is informed by a profound interest in political murals,
inspired by exposure at a young age to those of his Father’s native Northern
Ireland. This is reflected in the socialist nature of his public artworks, which
combine journalistic elements with public art. Magee’s work is driven by his
recognition of the power of murals to communicate political and social
viewpoints and thus divide or unite communities.
Drawing from personal experience and the mundane, his figurative paintings
are deeply integrated with the urban environment and explore themes of
diversity, migration and transition, waste and consumption, loss, and the
environment.
In recent years, Magee has solidified his position as one of Australia’s leading
public artists and has traveled extensively, completing projects in countries
across the world. Some of the most recent project of note include his work in a
refugee camp in Jordan in 2017; and his solo exhibition Waves at Mathgoth
Gallery in Paris. In 2020, his solo exhibition Nothing Makes Sense Anymore, at
Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne; and a series of works on abandoned silos in
Barraba, NSW and both murals and a gallery installation for Tauranga Art
Gallery, NZ, for the Paradox Festival.
Magee has been featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, Juxtapoz Magazine,
ABC News , The Australian, The Urban Contemporary Art Guide (2014, 2015),
Street Art Australia (Lou Chamberlain), Graffiti Art (FR) Home & Design :
Trends Magazine, Surface (Soren Solker) (DK), amongst others.
