WILLIAM MACKINNON exhibition reviewed in The Washington Post

By Mark Jenkins May 27 at 10:57 AM

William MacKinnon

Although many of his paintings don’t include cars, William MacKinnon’s style could be termed “automotive chiaroscuro.” The pictures in the Australian artist’s “I Am Beginning to See the Light” often center on a small patch of visible road or outback at night, illuminated by headlights or street lamps. Other around-midnight scenes in the Morton Fine Arts show include “The Great Indoors,” which depicts a house glowing from within and a porch supporting a string of blue lights that resembles a misplaced constellation. The even inkier “There Is a Darkness” discloses little more than a red swoop — perhaps a dirt road — on the lower left and a star cluster on the upper right.

The preponderance of black in MacKinnon’s compositions endows drama, but it also serves to unify the various techniques and media. The artist employs oil, acrylic and auto-body enamel in the same pictures and contrasts precise rendering with looser brushwork that verges on abstraction. The distinction reflects the divide between man-made and natural: Lush vegetation and night skies inspire a freer hand. It also reflects the moods of an artist who writes, “Each day I come into the studio feeling different.” Rather than harmonize these emotions, he juxtaposes them extravagantly, under the cover of darkness.

William MacKinnon: I Am Beginning to See the Light On view through June 2 at Morton Fine Art, 1781 Florida Ave. NW. 202-628-2787. mortonfineart.com.

 

The Great Outdoors, 35″x47″, acrylic, oil and enamel on canvas

 

Click HERE to view available works by WILLIAM MACKINNON.

 

WILLIAM MACKINNON “I’m Beginning To See The Light”

Born in 1978 in Melbourne, Australia, WILLIAM MACKINNON earned his BA from Melbourne University, his MFA for Victorian College of the Arts and his Post Graduate Diploma from the Chelsea School of Art and Design in London.

I Am Beginning to See the Light marks MACKINNON’s third solo exhibition in North America, all of them at Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC.

MACKINNON’s many accolades include exhibiting as a finalist in the Basil Sellers Art Prize at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in both 2014 and 2016. He has also been a finalist multiple times for both the prestigious Fleurier Landscape Prize and Arthur Guy Memorial Prize at the Bendigo Regional Art Gallery. His artwork can be found in the permanent collections of Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne University, State Library of Victoria,Joyce Nissan Collection, Artbank, Griffith University, Macquarie Bank Collections, RACV and Stonnington Council Collections.

Born into a family legacy of internationally renowned fine artists, MACKINNON participated in a noteworthy three generation exhibition, Landscape of Longing: Shoreham 1950-2012, at the Mornington Pennisula Regional Gallery in Australia which included a number of works by his mother, KATHERINE HATTAM (b. 1950) and his grandfather, HAL HATTAM (b.1913 d.1994).

About I Am Beginning to See the Light

MACKINNON states that “Painting for me is a way of thinking…an open-ended sort of intuitive tinkering and discovery. Each day I come into the studio feeling different. I often leave notes from the end of the previous day as a clue of how to proceed. But since then, a lot has happened. I feel different…Sleep, dreams, what I have seen on my drive to work or along the coast, and my feelings all creep into my artwork. I try to bring this new version of myself into the next phase of the painting…that “quick thinking” which draws on everything you have seen and felt and read and looked at in a lifetime. In the end, all of my paintings are self portraits.”

I’m Beginning To See The Light is open until June 2. Please contact the gallery if you have any questions about Mackinnon or his paintings!

 

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Rosemary Feit Covey’s 500 piece collection at Georgetown University Library

Rosemary Feit Covey’s 500 piece collection at Georgetown University Library. This collection encompasses the entire graphic oeuvre from 1967 to 2010 of the South African-born artist Rosemary Feit Covey. Including some 500 works, the collection was amassed over several decades by Eric Lansdowne Mackenzie and generously donated to Georgetown University Library in 2011.  Mackenzie had published the catalogue raisonné of Covey’s graphic work the previous year, and the descriptive information in these Digital Georgetown records is drawn from his catalog.

 

Encouraged as a high school student by the renowned wood engraver and illustrator Barry Moser, Covey began working in the challenging medium of wood engraving in 1975. The stark linearity and rich darkness of this expressive medium can heighten the psychological effect of the subject and proved the ideal medium for Covey’s imagery. She found that the act of carving into wood required a level of concentration and effort that “drew from a deeper reserve” than the act of painting. Through this intensely physical process she was enabled to bring more deeply felt imagery to the surface, drawn from memories of her youth or daily experience.

Rosemary Feit Covey is a prolific, award-winning artist who maintains a working studio at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia. From 2007 to 2008, Covey served as Artist-in-Residence at Georgetown University Medical Center, and in 2014 she had a major retrospective at the Johns Hopkins University’s Evergreen Museum and Library. Her work is represented in the Smithsonian Institution and the New York Public Library, among other public collections.

 

View the collection HERE.

Available artwork by ROSEMARY FEIT COVEY.

Morton Fine Art

1781 Florida Ave NW

Washington, DC 20009

(202) 628-2787

mortonfineart.com

http://www.mortonfineart.com

‘I Am Beginning to See the Light’ A solo exhibition of paintings by WILLIAM MACKINNON

Exhibition on view through June 2nd,  2016

EXHIBITION LOCATION

Morton Fine Art (MFA)

1781 Florida Ave NW (at 18th & U Sts)

Washington, DC 20009

HOURS

Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm

Sunday 12pm-5pm

About I Am Beginning to See the Light

MACKINNON states that “Painting for me is a way of thinking…an open-ended sort of intuitive tinkering and discovery. Each day I come into the studio feeling different. I often leave notes from the end of the previous day as a clue of how to proceed. But since then, a lot has happened. I feel different…Sleep, dreams, what I have seen on my drive to work or along the coast, and my feelings all creep into my artwork. I try to bring this new version of myself into the next phase of the painting…that “quick thinking” which draws on everything you have seen and felt and read and looked at in a lifetime. In the end, all of my paintings are self portraits.”

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About WILLIAM MACKINNON

Born in 1978 in Melbourne, Australia, WILLIAM MACKINNON earned his BA from Melbourne University, his MFA for Victorian College of the Arts and his Post Graduate Diploma from the Chelsea School of Art and Design in London.  I Am Beginning to See the Light marks MACKINNON’s third solo exhibition in North America, all of them at Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC.

MACKINNON’s many accolades include exhibiting as a finalist in the Basil Sellers Art Prize at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne in both 2014 and 2016. He has also been a finalist multiple times for both the prestigious Fleurier Landscape Prize and Arthur Guy Memorial Prize at the Bendigo Regional Art Gallery. His artwork can be found in the permanent collections of Ian Potter Museum, Melbourne University, State Library of Victoria,Joyce Nissan Collection, Artbank, Griffith University, Macquarie Bank Collections RACV and Stonnington Council Collections.

Born into a family legacy of internationally renowned fine artists, MACKINNON participated in a noteworthy three generation exhibition, Landscape of Longing: Shoreham 1950-2012, at the Mornington Pennisula Regional Gallery in Australia which included a number of works by his mother, KATHERINE HATTAM (b. 1950) and his grandfather, HAL HATTAM (b.1913 d.1994).

‘Continuum’ an exhibition of paintings by CHARLES WILLIAMS

Check out this phenomenal installation snap shot of ‘Continuum’ an exhibition of paintings by CHARLES WILLIAMS on display in Charlotte, NC at Central Piedmont Community College’s Ross Gallery.

Nathaniel Donnett: Dancing in the End Zone is a Sine Qua Non for In-External Spaces

MFA’s NATHANIEL DONNETT participates in Pittsburgh’s Gallery Crawl showing a new body of work

709 Penn Gallery ~ 709 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA

Curated by Kilolo Luckett

A Pittsburgh premiere and solo exhibition of new work featuring Houston-based artist Nathaniel Donnett.  Donnett will exhibit works that address the sociopolitical conditions and cultural expressions of African Americans. Donnett is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Houston, Texas.  He is currently the recipient of the 2015 Idea Fund /Andy Warhol Foundation Grant and founder of Not That But This, an arts and culture webzine.

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GA GARDNER Curates International Art Exhibition in Paris, France

 

We are very excited to share GETTHRU’s newest project with Boxout, exhibiting in Paris, France.  ‘Mixed Bag: An International Small Works Exhibition’ curated by Morton Fine Art’s own GA GARDNER is made possible by Gethru.org and the fundraising arm of the nonprofit organization!  Boxout provides art collectors with access to international works of art by making the original works available for sale through local galleries, art fairs and art spaces.

About the Exhibition:

Title:  Mixed Bag: An International Small Works Exhibition
Curator:  GA Gardner
Gallery:  59 Rivoli
Venue:  Paris France, www.59rivoli.org

Date: April 28 to May 8, 2016

 

Also check out this write up by Olive Vassel about the exhibition on euromight.com!