John Mackie was born in 1953. His love of drawing using bright colours began at a very early age culminating in 1972 with a place at Glasgow School of Art where he was to study until 1976 under the expert guidance of David Donaldson, Scotland's foremost living painter. John was in the eyes of David Donaldson the most talented student of his graduating year, gaining in 1976 the W H Shanks award for drawing. In 1976-77 John received a travelling scholarship from The Scottish Arts Council which he used to work for a short period in the United States.

 

Twenty years on, as sell-out exhibition follows sell-out exhibition, the early promise of John Mackie has been confirmed many times over. Whether using oil or pastel, he is an artist of consummate skill, whose paintings have attracted collectors and critic from Glasgow to Detroit. A recent exhibition in the United States prompted one writer to comment that in Mackie's translation of natural light into paint the artist has made an important breakthrough "beyond conventional impression". Indeed, his paintings are more than a record of light and shade; with his wonderfully rich palette he can convey the heat and dust of a Provencal meadow; with his tremendous line he can capture the bustle of a market or the lapping of a Venetian waterway.The extradaordinarily beautiful pictures which the artist produces are alive with movement and reveal a superb artist at the height of his powers.

 

John Mackie has exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Glasgow Institute, and at leading London and provincial galleries.