Rob McLeish

Rob McLeish (b. Melbourne, 1976) is known for his visceral work across a range of mediums, including sculpture, installation, drawing, collage and printmaking. A defining characteristic of his production is the tension between precise execution and raw gestures; embedding his artworks with a sense of desecration and latent violence; both visually and materialy: 'I have always been more interested in drawing over an image than the image itself.' 

McLeish's work operates at the intersection of intention and destructive chance. He has described his methodology as a 'schizophrenic distillation of making and un-making'; intuitions, compulsions and obsessions are filtered through a rigorous formalism only to be compromised and 'un-made'. In a practice spanning more than two decades McLeish has meticulously crafted a visual language that is simultaneously seductive and discordant. Overarching themes of desire and decay are punctuated with obscure cultural appropriation, art historical references, industrial processes and abstraction. The result is an oeuvre of challenging works that prioritize the power of aesthetic and psychological impression.

‘I'm trying to create a free space for my obsessions and compulsions to come together. I’ll spend a lot of time thinking about themes, subject matter etc. but once it's on I try to keep the process intuitive and if it gets too tight I'll push it and look for a way to break it open again. That’s why I like working in series, because it's expansive; you have this cross pollination that cultivates complexity. It becomes unpredictable, it allows repetition and contradiction to do their thing and a language emerges. It's far more satisfying and engaging than anything I could pre-plan and it frees myself up from trying to cram it all into a single work.’.

McLeish has exhibited extensively throughout Australia. Recent exhibitions include ‘SNARES’, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne (2025): ‘HEADLESS: The River Capital Commission’, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2021); ‘Distortions’, Neon Parc Brunswick, Melbourne (2021); ‘From Will To Form’, Tarrawarra Biennial, Tarrawarra Museum, Melbourne, (2018); ‘Verus Rodin: Bodies Across Space And Time’, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2017); and ‘Thanks Criticism!’ Kansas, New York, New York (2016).

McLeish’s work is held in prominent public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Monash University, Melbourne; and Artbank Australia.