John Mckie from the North of England
OM.2020.123, OM.2020.131, OM.2020.132, OM.2020.133
Here are several works I love by John Mckie. A number of them make me laugh, the jokes are really well done. I really like the idea of incorporating the little paintings into the photographic environments. This reminds me very much of collage. I think because of the disjuncture of the drawings in the photographic space.
I acquired these and a few others for the archives back during the pandemic. I love the combination of found material and the primitive/outsider folk art style of painting along with the feel of a narrative similar to being images of some strange folk/fairy tale from the undiscovered country of Mckie’s inner world.
Artist Statement
I live in the north of England, just about on the Scottish border. I used to do normal jobs and had my own traditional business but it never suited me and really all I wanted to do was draw and make pictures. I draw everyday now, often on packaging and found materials. This is the only way I have found to live and work with some kind of freedom.
​My pictures have been on show in recent years in London, The U.S.A., Copenhagen, London, Scotland, Vienna, Berlin, Ireland, and soon in France and have work in various online collections like The Whitney Counterweight collection and several outsider art collections.
​I've recently sent pictures to UK, Switzerland, France, Australia, Germany, Austria, USA, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden.
A couple of things from online interviews
What do you love about painting, and what do you hate?
I like making something out of nothing, something unique. The element of surprise that often makes a picture work. Also the escape factor and being focused on the moment is good. There's nothing I hate about it really. I'm crap at it often, maybe that's the only thing.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get my inspiration from the media mostly. How the world is presented to us by mostly entities who have a vested interest in us thinking in certain ways and doing certain things. It seems like on the whole our thoughts are directed to fit an agenda… and for me, sad part of this is that mostly people don’t see it, although many do. I believe very little of what I hear, see or read in our media and it drives me nuts, and I mean, bad nuts. War for profit ran by psychopaths, mindless celebrity stuff to keep our tiny minds occupied, three news stories per day to keep us talking and arguing between ourselves, propaganda, censorship, political correctness to control our thoughts. A lot of my time I’m on a bit of a knife edge, it makes me despair sometimes and laugh at others. I don’t hold out a lot of hope for us as a species, most of the people who rise to positions where they can decide the fate of others are destructive and lack empathy. They are power mad psychopaths. I think that will be our downfall. The people that I draw are products of this system. See, I’m quite serious.
Thanks for introducing us to these marvelous works of art. I adore each one and love his style. He sounds authentically humble and I love that he has this strong need to create and does it so beautifully. They're so fresh and unpretentious. A nice break from "artists" feeling the need to shock for shock's sake, screaming look-at-me, trying too hard, and just obviously pretentious "art".