by mackie

The Source of Light series

Old Irish Jerry used to go and have his dinner in the pub every night after a day on the booze (he never seemed drunk, but jovial and pleasant) around 5 o’clock. Following which he would have a little sleep at his table. Now, anyone who knows pub licensing laws – or just the rules of pub etiquette – knows you can’t sleep in pubs. So when asked as to whether he wouldn’t mind waking up or going home, his reply came with still shut eyes, “I’m not sleeping; I’m just looking at the bright colours behind my eyelids.”

Inspired by intriguing characters like Old Irish Jerry, Mackie’s Source of Light paintings are a study of what he calls ‘the average man’. Injecting Film Noir-style drama throughout, Mackie’s paintings confront us with gritty depictions of men’s frailty, depicting character and feeling over true reflections of the characters’ appearance.

Born in the Highlands of Scotland, I recall drawing from an early age; obsessively drawing and re-drawing pictures, trying to achieve perfect scale and efficient ways of devising images.

Through this compulsive process, and drawing on my education in illustration and design, I developed a practice which draws upon classical Flemish painting techniques, devising increasingly complex and imaginative scenes. Now based in London, my paintings focus on the personalities of ‘the very average man’; intriguing characters, free from idealist values, set in dark, convincing scenes.