Marlee McMahon’s paintings are informed by the vocabularies of hard-edge abstraction, constructivism, and formalism. A recent shift in medium from acrylic to oil paints has allowed McMahon to move away from creating opaque architectural arrangements in favour of responding intuitively to the physical and spatial boundaries of the canvas. In the subsequent paintings, McMahon layers pigments to produce nuanced colours and subtle textures. In her latest paintings the canvas signifies a site of evolving progressions, developing delicate links between action and awareness, rhythm and form.

Born in 1996, McMahon received a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours), Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 2017 and a Master of Fine Art from the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam in 2023.

She is a recipient of the Samstag Scholarship (2020), Cranbourne Fellowship at the British School at Rome (2019), Majlis Encouragement Award (2017), Sydney Canvas Company Award (2016).

Selected solo exhibitions: Stepping Lightly, Conners Conners, Melbourne, 2021; Heavy Kite, Visions, Auckland, NZ 2021; Digestif, STATION, Melbourne, 2020; Carbonated, Bowerbank Ninow, Auckland, NZ 2019; 61x70xM, Alaska Projects, Sydney, 2017; Optic White, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, 2017, Victoria.

Selected group exhibitions: Wind-up Teeth, Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, NL , 2022; I Must Be Living Twice, curated by Eloise Sweetman and Jason Hendrik Hansma from Shimmer, European Cultural Centre, Venice, ITA; XXX: Celebrating 30 years of Sutton Gallery, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2022; 10 year show, STATION, Melbourne, 2021; I Am Here curated by Katherine Hattam, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, 2021; Deep Breakfast, Haydens, Melbourne, 2020; Sounds of Pacing, Conners Conners, Melbourne, 2020; December Mostra, British School of Rome, Rome, Italy; 2019; Hard Boiled, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne, 2019; A more comprehensive physical explanation, Bowerbank Ninow, Auckland, NZ, 2019; Unrepresented Artists, Haydens, Melbourne, 2018; The drawing is just not there, curated by Patrice Sharkey and Christopher L G Hill, West Space, Melbourne, 2018, Uh, or so on, VCA Art Space, Melbourne, 2017; Summer projects IV, Boom, Geelong, 2017.