Abstract artist James Mackie spent his childhood in Glasgow where he acquired not only a love for the community, but also the maverick ingenuity that today infuses his art.
Colour and shapes inspire much of James's work, but not always directly. He paints according to his moods, always pushing the envelope and asking "what if?" Often he plays with computerised images, distorting them until he sees something unusual. From there he develops a tangible, textured version on canvas which may involve numerous layers of oil or acrylic paint. Paintings are always vibrant: most colours representing the antitheses of his emotions. He uses shades of blue and turquoise to calm and soothe, and red to inflame. Some of his paintings are colourful diversions from reality; others have greater significance. For instance, while his striking "Homes for the Future" series was inspired by the connections to Glasgow, others evolve from computerised exercises in colour and form, such as a “Flutter”. Perpetually exploring new concepts and developing the innovative techniques that distinguish him work; he enjoys the freedom abstract art offers both artist and audience. The enigmatic nature of his paintings means he feels neither bound to explain them nor cares how they're interpreted. Individual conjecture, he believes, only serves to make his work more interesting.
If abstraction is to be defined as an attempt to record a visual reality by reflecting the transient effects of colour and light, then my work begins in the same vain, with very similar concerns. Using my own visual reality as reference, as well as taking technical direction from the works of some of the great painters like Picasso, Kandinsky and Miro, I began to explore colour, and its effects and capabilities. I initially established a strong visual foundation from which to begin exploring transient light, colour and texture and recently empirical explorations seem not only to examine these concerns but to visually magnify the previous works appearance, and in doing so creating seemingly abstract compositions of amazing colour and shapes.
