Like most people, talking about myself in third person is one of my favourite pastimes.
“Jack Magnus McDonald is one of New Zealand’s most promising realism artists, blurring the lines between the real world and his own imagination. His geometrically rich creations are candy for the eyes and a journey-inducing drug for the mind.”
I wrote that myself. Poetic, huh?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so how I describe myself is not the same as how someone else would describe me. My work will provoke a different emotion in everyone.
So rather than tell you what to think, I’d like to let it happen naturally as you peruse this personal curation.
Most of New Zealand’s realism painters, inspired by the incredible beauty of our country, choose to paint landscapes. Look at the earlier paintings in my gallery. A lot of them were landscapes, devoid of any humanity.
We have an art scene which has begun to be saturated with realism artists producing paintings of the Milford Sounds or Arthur’s Pass.
I am not taking a dig at my fellow artists, but it is hard to create world changing art if you keep doing what everyone else is doing. Realism should be used to augment reality, not replicate it.
Moving to the city changed how I thought about art. Originally hailing from Ashburton, 6 years ago I moved to the metropolis and my viewing glass changed.
Most people live in cities. People bring culture and gatherings of people create discussion. The shear size of a city makes it easy find like-minded people who stretch your mind with explosively resonating ideas.
At the end of last year, I crossed the ditch and landed on my feet in Fitzroy, Melbourne. I am in a funky little suburb with a bohemian reputation. Street art covers the narrow back streets and nearby Gertrude St has all the art supply shops and galleries I will ever need. I couldn’t think of a better place for an artist to live.
My love of big cities has evolved and inspired my art. I have gradually shifted away from naturalistic vistas and my work is beginning to incorporate more man-made influence. This is the new natural. And I wish to paint it.
It is hard to say whether my paintings will ever have a consistent theme or aesthetic. My mind shuffles ideas like a dealer shuffles cards. Whatever idea is picked off the top of the pile is an absolute lottery, even to me.
Well, that’s my bio. I hope it was more informative than the usual hyperbole-laden blurbs that I see floating around. Having offended landscape artists and people from small country towns, I better get back to painting.
Feel free to come along for the journey, buy a print or if you are quick enough, an original. And make sure you are the first to know about my latest work, fresh off the easel, by signing up below.
I promise not to spam you. No Nigerian prince offering to share his inheritance. Just an adolescent perspective on an age-old genre.
