About
James McGrath is a Sydney-based painter and architect whose practice threads seventeenth-century Baroque spatiality through twenty-first-century image-making. Born in Sydney in 1969, he trained at the University of New South Wales (M.Arch, First Class Honours) and the Architectural Association in London, with early studio assistantships under Patrick Betaudier in Paris and Arthur Boyd at Bundanon. He builds his interiors first as 3D models — libraries, ceilings, mirrored rooms, drapery — then translates them back into oil. His ongoing Ex Libris sequence, begun after privileged access to the Strahov Monastic Library in Prague and first exhibited at Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney and Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong in 2011, returns to London in June 2026, fifteen years on. McGrath is represented by Olsen Gallery, Sydney. A parallel digital practice — immersive installations including Ghost Trees (The LUME Melbourne, NFSA Canberra, Detroit Institute of Arts) and Tidal Vectors (Museum of Sydney) — extends the same concerns into time-based and architectural space.
Begun in 2010 with privileged access to the Strahov Monastic Library in Prague, Ex Libris has been a fifteen-year reconstruction — book by book, animal by animal — of a single Baroque room. London 2026 is the latest pass.
Education
- 1994M.Arch (First Class Honours), University of New South Wales
- 1992–93Architectural Association, London
- 1988Studio assistant to Arthur Boyd, Bundanon
- 1987Studio assistant to Patrick Betaudier, Paris
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- 2026Ex Libris, Old Battersea House, London (11–20 June)
- 2025The Long Conversation, 30 Buckingham Street, Sydney
- 2024The Sphere of Narcissus, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
- 2021Luscus, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
- 2018The Flooded Library, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
- 2016Ocular/Speculo, Olsen Gallery, Sydney
- 2015Ocular/Fleur, Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
- 2014Ocular/Fleurs, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
- 2013Lacuna/Anamnesis, Olsen Irwin Gallery, Sydney
- 2011Ex Libris, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney; Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
- 2007Pozzo's Shadow, Gibsone Jessop Gallery, Toronto
- 2004Vision & Verse, Nevill Keating Gallery, London
- 2004Baroque Ensembles, MCG Galleries, New York
- 2000CUSP — a study of folds and flora, Michael Carr Art Gallery, Sydney
Selected Immersive + Public Commissions
- 2025LED Totems, International Towers, Barangaroo, Sydney
- 2024Ghost Trees, National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra
- 2022–23Ghost Trees, The LUME, Melbourne (3,000 m², with Gary Sinclair)
- 2021Ghost Trees, DLECTRICITY, Detroit Institute of Arts; LUNA Fête, New Orleans
- 2009Ghost Nets, Sculpture by the Sea, Tamarama Beach, Sydney
- 2000Tidal Vectors, Museum of Sydney (with Barton Staggs)
- 2000Theatres of Anatomy (screening), J. Paul Getty Museum + Laguna Art Museum, Los Angeles
- Public digital murals: 80 Collins St, 180 Lonsdale St, 385 Bourke St (Melbourne); 1 Martin Place (Sydney); 555 Collins Street (Melbourne); Threads of Flora, Double Bay (Sydney).
Awards + Grants
- 2025Mosman Art Prize, People's Choice
- 2021Paddington Art Prize, finalist
- 2021KAAF Award, finalist
- 2019Mosman Art Prize, People's Choice
- 2010Blake Prize, finalist
- 2009Sculpture by the Sea, Director's Choice
- 1999Australian Arts Council New Media Commission
- 1998National Digital Art Award, Queensland
- 1997Australian Postgraduate Award
- 1996Moya Goring Paris Studio Residency, Cité Internationale des Arts
- 1990Biola International Design Award
- NSW Ministry of Arts Project Grant
- International commissions: Beijing, Majorca, Tel Aviv, London, New York, Melbourne, Sydney.
See also the parallel digital practice jamesmcgrath.digital/home →
