[4] Conceptually, McLennan's work tends to be unambiguous and antagonistic from a left-wing perspective, loosely following the traditions of agitprop, anti-art and Institutional Critique, incorporating elements of détournement, readymade or installation.
[5] Alternatively, various liberal lawyers, academics and activists have defended his works, usually on the basis of free speech, due to the offence sometimes caused by his art for its often overt left-leaning bias.
[6] The artist has expressed public criticisms over Zionism, the War on Terror, Australian nationalism and racism, the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, various political figures and the managerial class of the art world.
The security guard was reportedly humiliated due to the incident which occurred at a time of high criticism of the John Howard government's treatment of asylum seekers.
This put a number of Victorian political figures such as former Premier Steve Bracks, Lord Mayor John So and former City of Melbourne councillor Kimberley Kitching under pressure to respond.
[5] In August 2004, McLennan displayed State Sponsored, a collection of portraits of Hamas militants, including Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Dr. Abdul Aziz Rantisi and the dates they were assassinated.
[25] The censorship is likely to have been motivated by the Australian Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005, particularly the controversial return to the crime of sedition introduced by the Howard government some weeks later and passed into law the following month; a move highly unpopular amongst the arts sector.
The works featured images of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian man shot dead by London police and accused Muslim terrorist, Jack Thomas.
The scandal had been criticised as offensive by those such as Federal Liberal Party MP Bronwyn Bishop who attempted to introduce a ban on flag burning, and the national president of the Returned and Services League.
Free speech advocates such as the National Association for the Visual Arts and criminal defence lawyer Rob Stary denounced the police's actions as an attack on civil rights.
[33] McLennan featured in Rules of Engagement at Melbourne ARI West Space in May 2007, which dealt with "relationships, power and exchange within the art system" according to the show's curator Mark Feary.
[34] McLennan's contribution, Art in a Capitalist Society depicted an authoritative picture of leading private Australian gallerist Anna Schwartz, linked to a quote about exploitation from the Karl Marx treatise Das Kapital.