For Alexander McKenzie, his home studio in Cronulla is ‘a bit of a haven’

For Alexander McKenzie, his home studio in Cronulla is ‘a bit of a haven’.

Artist Alexander McKenzie and wife Simone in their Cronulla home. Picture: Jane Dempster

The swishing palms of Marrakesh and other exotic gardens were the inspiration for Sydney artist Alexander McKenzie’s latest exhibition, Escape to the Palmerie.

Using what he describes as minuscule thumbnail sketches — the size of postage stamps — that he drew on a trip to Morocco and North Africa earlier this year, he painted 15 “imagined landscapes” in his south Cronulla home studio for the exhibition, which recently opened at Martin Browne Contemporary in Paddington.

“My studio is a bit of a haven and I tend to lose myself in there — I often have up to seven paintings on the go as the oil layers take a while to dry and I work slowly.

“I tend to start my day early in the studio and like to sit for a while before I get started and clear my head from the chaos of the morning with the kids,” says McKenzie, who often switches on Beethoven to accompany him.

The four-bedroom house features an open-plan kitchen and two living areas that lead to an impressive resort-style heated pool, spa and cabana. Picture: Jane Dempster

He describes the spacious two-storey house and garden as his sanctuary, which he shares with his wife, Simone, their three teenagers and several productive chooks.

“Being an artist, I haven’t had to change my work routine in the past months as I have always worked alone and our home has plenty of room,” he says.

The four-bedroom house features an open-plan kitchen and two living areas that lead to an impressive resort-style heated pool, spa and cabana that are popular with all family members.

The two terraces offer expansive views over Bate Bay, Jibbon Beach and Cape Solander, and it is a short walk to the beach, Oak Park and the Esplanade.

Alexander McKenzie’s painting he is currently working on titled Nights at Mamournia. This is part of his latest exhibition – Escape to the Palmerie – at Martin Brown Contemporary in Paddington. Picture: Jane Dempster

McKenzie says the family enjoys Cronulla and has moved several times in the same suburb, but he admits he’s a bit nomadic and an eventual escape to the country isn’t out of the question.

McKenzie, of Scottish descent, drew prolifically as a child and he got his first studio at the age of 11, which he suspects was a way to contain his messy paints. His father, a sailor, and his mother, a teacher, encouraged him with his artwork. McKenzie recalls his first exhibition as the one that wasn’t meant to be, but he talked his way in regardless.

“I arrived with a painting the day they were hanging and said I had been left off the list — the gallery sold the painting and then took me on — but I still have the catalogue of my first exhibition in which I don’t appear,” he says.

The artist’s palette. Picture: Jane Dempster

McKenzie, who studied at Australia’s oldest art institution, the Julian Ashton School in Sydney, has works in private collections in Britain, the US, Hong Kong, Europe and Australia. He has been a finalist for the Archibald Prize six times with his takes on the likes of actors Richard Roxburgh and Toni Collette, and he has been a finalist for the Wynne Prize for landscape painting nine times.

Trees and uninhabited symbolic landscapes, which reflect a mystical, luminous, mythical look that beckon viewers to look deeper, are his signature subjects.

He hopes the new exhibition conjures a spiritual journey taking viewers to another time and place pre-pandemic. “I think it’s all about idealist escap­ism and hopefully people recall life as it used to be,” the artist says.

Ornaments include a green lamp base that was a wedding gift given to his parents. Picture: Jane Dempster

McKenzie is old school when it comes to his raw linen canvas preparation, using white lead paint, rabbit-skin glue and tradi­tional underpainting techniques.

“It’s pretty stinky glue but has great results and there’s something about following those old ways that make each painting special,” he says.

Major projects include The Adventurous Gardener 2018 survey that showcased 42 of his most significant and evocative works at the Hazelhurst Arts Centre at Gymea in southern Sydney, attracting 25,000 people.