During his current residency with the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program, Australian painter Stewart MacFarlane has sought to capture the mood, space, and light of New Mexico. Beginning with small studies painted on-site and in his studio of the people and places of the region, MacFarlane has produced a series of bold, large paintings which seemingly expose something behind the normalities of everyday life.

MacFarlane first arrived in the United States in 1975 to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York, and later Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He has since traveled extensively and has participated in residency programs throughout the world. He has had 49 solo exhibitions of his work in Australia, the United States, and Germany. This current residency marks MacFarlane’s third stay in Roswell over the past twenty years, and his first exhibition at the Roswell Museum and Art Center.