Scout McKenzie
South West Arts
Scout McKenzie is an emerging artist based in southern New South Wales. Scout works mainly in graphite and ink on paper, aiming to create powerful works with minimal materials. Her works are often one colour, either grey or black, as a way of expressing the loneliness and quiet she feels living in a small town. This, along with coming of age, female relationships and the human figure are principal themes in Scout’s work.
Things you often see in Scout’s work are images of a body or face in experimental poses and expressions, in spaces of strong light and shadow. Most of the subjects in her work are her, and you can see the curiosity she has in analysing herself and the feeling that can be created through body language. Scout grew up watching lots of films with her family and was heavily influenced by them, often drawing inspiration directly from characters and their experience.
Her works that don’t relate to films are still heavily centered around people, emotions and relationships. Scout draws people with the intention of creating beauty and calm, or ugliness and discomfort. She explores how manipulating a body can impact the meaning for her audience.
Links
Artwork description
Bones And All, 2024, collage and graphite drawing
Man In Car, 2024, graphite drawing
Merlot Vines, 2024, graphite drawing
Two girls stop motion, 2024, stop motion animation with textiles and graphite drawing
Artist Statement
The three works I have chosen are centred around my sense of self, and include self-portraits and objects I feel a connection with. There is a juxtaposition between intimacy and isolation, with intense relationships represented through physical closeness contrasted with the vulnerability of isolation and fragility. This is drawn from my experiences growing up on a farm where the beauty of solitude fights with the desire to be somewhere else, to experience more. My works allow me to explore myself, or my sense of self, in different contexts. I am in a film, or in nature. I feel the femininity or romanticism of a structure.
As I study the subject, I slowly notice the effect that shadows have on a nose or a tree branch and all the shapes that make up the whole. I prefer smaller sketches because I can get lost in the details. I love seeing how denim clothing or the shadows on a face look when a lot of attention has been given to every fibre or inch of skin. I like to experiment with different materials like newspaper, ribbon and wool to see what effect they have. Drawing is my way of understanding the things around me, with the hope that it resonates with someone else too.