2 in boat

Euan Macleod was born in New Zealand and studied art in Christchurch before moving to Australia in 1981.

Macleod's paintings and prints are closely interrelated. His primary theme is landscape, often romantic and darkly brooding in tenor. An anonymous, often isolated male figure is repeatedly featured, dominating the landscape, a metaphorical or symbolic force that could alternately stand for the artist himself, a father figure (Macleod witnessed his father's long decline into Alzheimer's disease as a young man), or a more universal presence.

The image of a boat, which features in two of these prints, can be linked to his father's idiosyncratic project of building a boat in the family living room (necessitating the removal of a window when it was finally finished and seaworthy). 'I was thinking at one stage about that relationship with the figure and the landscape - thinking how will I do this without the figure? The obvious way was to use a metaphor for the figure. I thought "I'll use a boat". Why did I choose a boat? Because of my father on one level, and I love the shape of the boat and I love painting water. Its hard to separate it out - what's conscious, what's unconscious. (Euan Macleod to Gavin Wilson in 'Surface tension: the art of Euan Macleod 1991-2009', Murwillumbah, Tweed River Art Gallery, 2010, p7).

'2 in boat' relates to a 2008 exhibition of works at Watters Gallery, titled 'Boats and other paintings' (Watters Gallery, Sydney, 28 May - 21 June 2008, not in catalogue), particularly 'Two in a boat (one standing)' 2007 (oil on canvas, Frank Watters collection).