About Kieran McLean's work
Artist Statement
I make landscape paintings and drawings about the ways human actions alter the natural world. I want my work to ask: how do we live with places we have changed, damaged, or put at risk, and what does that change look and feel like from within the landscape?
I begin by letting materials behave unpredictably. I pour and tilt liquid paint, allowing chance to form part of the image, then bring in more deliberate, controlled marks. My approach reflects the instability and vulnerability inherent in the subject matter. That movement between accident and intention lets the landscape emerge as something unstable: recognisable, but never entirely settled.
I want viewers to feel both the atmosphere of a place and the pressure it carries: to look closely at the landscapes around us, and to consider the human presence shaping their future.
Biography
Kieran McLean is an Oxfordshire-based artist who makes landscape paintings and drawings about the relationship between people and the natural world, particularly places shaped by climate change and other human actions. Using both chance-driven and more controlled techniques, McLean creates atmospheric, often haunting images in which the landscape feels both familiar and under pressure. He studied Fine Art at the University of West England, including 3 months at the University of Barcelona. Recently, he co-curated and exhibited in the group show ‘Landscape and Meaning’ at OVADA Gallery in Oxford, and had a solo exhibition at Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, awarded after winning first prize at the ArtWorks Open 2025. His wider practice also includes drawing, photography, and printmaking.
CV
Kieran Paul Shankly McLean
Solo Exhibitions
3-19 July 2026 'Paintings-Kieran McLean' Barbican Arts Group Trust Project Space, Walthamstow, London
May 2022 Kieran McLean 'New Work'-'Oxfordshire Artweeks' Solo Exhibition, Rick's Cafe, Cowley, Oxford
July 2010 ‘The Ministry of Misinformation’ Said Business School, Oxford University, Oxford
Nov 2009-Jan 2010 ‘Gargoyle Conspiracy’, Greens Café, Oxford
Selected Group Exhibitions
10 Sept-9 Oct 2026 'True Blue', 13B Gallery, Kamnik, Ljubjana, Slovenia
5-30 August 2026 'Abstract', Glasgow Gallery of Photography, Glasgow
1-30 June 2026 'Still/Motion', Solas/Shadow International Photography Gallery (Online Only)
29 May-21 June 2026 'Ripple Effect-Momentum', Artworks East, Leyton, London
24-28 February 2026 'Landscape and Meaning', OVADA Gallery, Oxford
28 Nov-7 Dec 2025 'Artworks Open 2025' (First-Prize Winner) Artworks Project Space, Barbican Arts Group Trust, Blackhorse Lane, London
7 June-27 July 2024 'Open' Exhibition, Old Fire Station, Oxford
11-19 May 2024 'Botley Drawing' Louie Memorial Pavillion, Botley, Oxford. (Oxfordshire Artweeks)
29-30 August 2023 'Fruits of a Summer Harvest' OVADA Gallery, Oxford
1-31 August 2023 OVADA Summer Residency (Self-Directed Practice)
20-29 May 2023 'Botley Drawing' Louie Memorial Pavillion, Botley, Oxford. (Oxfordshire Artweeks)
11-28 May 2023 'MOOD' OVADA Gallery, Oxford.
7 Aug-7 Sept 2019 OVADA Summer Residency (DNA Research Collaborative Project)
16 April-16 May 2019 Ungrounded, Common Ground Workspace, Oxford (co-curator)
6-28 April 2019 Chromantics, Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot
28 Sept-28 Oct 2018 The Great Divide, OVADA, Oxford
13 Sept-1 Oct 2017 Oxford Art Society Open, St. John the Evangelist Church, Oxford
16-23 August 2015 Convergence 15, Stew Gallery, Norwich
1-19 October 2014 Oxford Art Society Open, St. John the Evangelist Church, Oxford
15 Feb-2 Mar 2014 Art Teachers’ Exhibition, O3 Gallery, Oxford
4-26 May 2013 Oxford Art Weeks Group Show, Jam Factory, Oxford
18-30 October 2011 Oxford Art Society Open, Said Business School Oxford University, Oxford
1-9 October 2011 The Big Draw (Winner), O3 Gallery, Oxford
Education
Sept 2008-June 2009 Oxford Brookes University, Westminster Institute of Education PGCE Post-Compulsory Education
Sept 2002-May 2005 University of West England, Bristol, BA (HONS) Fine Art
(March-June 2004) University of Barcelona, Erasmus Exchange