Artist profile
McLean
Fletcher
McLean Fletcher is an American figurative & expressionist painter, currently living in Melbourne. She is self-taught & usually paints in acrylic, occasionally mixing media with oil, watercolor & ink. Her focus is exploring the inseparability of the mystical immaterial world & the natural material world.
Also a writer & filmmaker with a Master of Fine Arts in Shakespeare & Classical Acting, McLean's training & experience in these mediums informs her visual art. Driven by teaching self-compassion & empathy for the other, her paintings reflect this mission.
Living at the intersection of the divine & the mundane, she invites her audience to seek answers to life's biggest questions within themselves.
Career Highlights
1. Solo exhibition, 2023, The Hero's Journey, The Basement, Richmond VA USA
2. Illustrated a book of poetry in 2018 and a children's picture book in 2021
3. Triptych commissioned by Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015 hangs in their Career Center lobby
Artist Interview
What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?
I mostly paint in acrylic because watercolor is too immediate & oil is too delayed, which feels like the pace of my own life. Acrylic has to be somewhat spontaneous, though it forgives easily. You can also paint over it and make something new - I like that.
How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?
I think about my artwork for much longer than I paint it. The artwork is deeply informed by my readings in philosophy & psychology, my studies in classical theatre & my spirituality. I'll often brainstorm a piece in my head for months or years before I put brush to canvas.
Once I start painting, it is hard to stop & I'll likely have a finished piece within a few weeks. My process is deeply therapeutic. I know the artwork is done & ready for exhibition when I feel it has a bit of therapy to offer an audience.
Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?
I'm a nomad, so my studio has taken many forms. After living all over the US, I moved to Australia with my partner in early 2024. I've since been floating about here & Asia. It is not easy to be peripatetic & an artist. I have paintings stored in a few different continents & I'm always loading & unloading artwork. When I have to choose between paintings & art supplies or clothes & nicknacks, I always choose the former. So I don't have many material items, but I'm rich with art.
Although constantly moving is exhausting, my artwork is an allegory for the spiritual journey & the inner psyche, therefore the more challenged I am, the more interesting my artwork becomes. Perpetual change is actually quite conducive in that sense.
I dream of a big, messy, creative warehouse studio … one day.
