Northland based artist Scott McFarlane has developed a distinctive practice exploring landscape, memory, history and the shifting relationship between people and place. Working across painting and ceramics, his works occupy a space between the observed and the imagined, where recognisable landscapes become more ambiguous, atmospheric and psychologically charged.

McFarlane’s landscapes are not simply representations of the land. They carry a sense of time, history and presence, often drawing on the physical character of Aotearoa while allowing room for myth, memory and suggestion. Forms are pared back and compositions carefully constructed, creating works that can feel both familiar and strangely elusive.

His approach to landscape has evolved through sustained engagement with different regions of New Zealand, from the Otago coast and hinterland to his current home in Te Tai Tokerau. The land becomes both subject and starting point, a way of considering what is remembered, what is imagined, and how our understanding of a place changes over time.

Alongside painting, McFarlane works with clay, using its physical and tactile qualities to extend similar ideas through image, form and text. Across both mediums there is a deliberate tension between the recognisable and the unresolved, inviting the viewer to look longer and to find their own reading within the work.

McFarlane graduated with Honours from the Otago School of Art in 1993 and has exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand. His work is held in public and private collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, Waikato Museum, Whangārei Art Museum and the James Wallace Arts Trust.