PAUL
MEEHAN
ART

The Artist

Paul Meehan’s many study tours to Italy brought about a realisation of the need to adopt a more disciplined approach to his craft as an artist.

His visits to Italy allowed a concentrated study of art, architecture and sculpture to incorporate the Etruscan, Medieval and Renaissance periods as well as acknowledging the importance of contemporary art. Paul embarked on a journey which would see him create on location a rich collection of sketches and photographic images.

This path also included studying the techniques of sculptors such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Michelangelo(especially Night, Day, Dawn and Twilight from the Medici chapel), Leonardo Da Vinci and Antonio Canova. 

 With a growing fascination in sculptors, Paul revisited the works of Auguste Rodin with particular attention to the way the French master approached composition. By juxtaposing positions which might seem impossible to execute in reality, the works appear as if captured in a split second through a camera lens. This impressionistic view of the human figure changed the way Paul painted at the time: with a shift away from classical anatomical composition, he focused on the monumental figures of Henry Moore. His painting of Moore’s Mother and Child led to a return to the Italian aesthetic and piqued an interest in Icon painting. This in turn led to the drawings and ideas of Bernini, Giacometti (especially the life-size figures in open landscapes) and Marino Marini.

During subsequent trips to India, China, Japan and Indonesia, Paul has also explored the painting and sculpture of these regions, especially works in stone, timber and bronze within a religious and historical context.

Paul Meehan’s ongoing studies today include pen and ink drawings influenced by the sketches of Lucian Freud, Joan Miro and Alberto Giacometti. He completed a study tour to Sicily in 2011 with a sketchbook of over 100 pen and ink drawings on paper, and this culminated in a successful exhibition at the Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery (Gasworks Arts Park, Melbourne) in 2012. 

The Melbourne Sketchbook Exhibition

"Meehan has been exploring the world closer to his home, Melbourne. Using his fountain pen and paper to record the rich history of the city, from the classic buildings of Spring Street, to the stone and bronze statues of the early explorers and the symbolic statues surrounding the Shrine. Sometimes the artist can be found waiting for the bare trees of winter to reveal the architecture behind them; sitting still in a fast-moving contemporary city, looking deep into the details of a city, we all pass every day."

Article online via: Melbourne Style Gallery 2016

Sketchbooks: The unsung heroes 

“They live in the pockets and shoulder bags of art directors, film directors, fashion designers, architects, and even the teenager avoiding school assignments.

Sketchbooks are trusted confidantes and reliable workhorses; they are the humble tool I return to again and again. Using a fountain pen, ink and paper, I record the diversity of not only all the places I’ve been lucky to have visited but also locally in my hometown of Melbourne.

Now drawing is my full time focus. Drawing from life, filling a sketchbook with ink – this is my ultimate reward.” 

Paul Meehan 2022

Acknowledgement of Country

I respectfully acknowledge the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Warrung, the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, exhibit and celebrate art. I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present, and future. I acknowledge their continuing relationship to this land.