RORY MACDONALD - House of Macdonald

Rory Macdonald

House of Macdonald

Printed by Kilmorack Gallery, March 2024

Cover image

Saint Christina

oil on linen | 113cm x 91cm

Rory Macdonald

House of Macdonald

16th March - 13th April 2024

TheVoyager oil on board | 40cm x 35cm

Foreword

Rory Macdonald’s artistic journey has been a sprint rather than a gentle amble, and he has arrived at a place where his work confronts us with something new. He introduces us, through meticulous technique, to characters we would otherwise walk past in a hall of great paintings. Humanity of the past - wrath, lust, envy, sloth, warts-and-all – looks at us from these pages and from the gallery’s wall. Every Macdonald painting shows, with clarity, a psychology and a soul that is in all of us.

Macdonald, however, is an artist of our times. He works with his iPad next to him, studying images on the screen, looking for details, ideas, and fresh ways to rescale and renew the emotional resonances he finds. Technology lets Macdonald repurpose his encyclopaedic knowledge of art history in a way that rockets it into the twenty-first century, and he does this with playful devotion. His paints are laid out like scalpels in a surgical ward, with precious colours and small brushes. There is a joy in his work from being in the now, without forgetting where we’ve been – not just the legacy of artists before but, more relevantly in a ‘House of Macdonald’ exhibition, his ancestral roots.

Tony Davidson, March 2024

This Charming Man oil on linen | 160cm x 116cm

The Passenger oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The River of Acheron oil on board | 60cm x 50cm

Saint Florian oil on board | 113cm x 91cm

The Patron Saint of Avarice oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Patron of Hubris oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Patron Saint of Wrath oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Patron of Lust oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Patron Saint of Gluttony oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Patron of Sloth oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Patron Saint of Envy oil on board | 36cm x 30cm

The Last Judgement oil on linen | 145cm x 105cm

Saint Jerome oil on board | | 19cm x 16cm

The Virgin Mary oil on board | | 19cm x 16cm

Saint Balthazar

oil on board | | 19cm x 16cm

Saint Kaspar

oil on board | | 19cm x 16cm

Spirit of a Romantisist oil on linen | 66cm x 60cm

The House of Macdonald

As a child I was regularly asked, “So, Rory, would you like to be an artist like your mum and dad when you are older?”. Usually this was followed by a roll of the eyes and a swift rejection of the suggestion; who wants to be like their parents as a young teenager after all? In fact, it wasn’t until I had nearly finished my second art history degree that I realised that it was I who had been the errant party. Had I really just spent five years learning about what my parents did without actually knowing how to do it myself? The last five years of my life have now been filled with an almost obsessive appetite for painting, a making up for lost time if you will. This all began, quite literally in the “House of Macdonald’, as I shared a studio space with my parents for two and half years, learning the craft from them that I had spurned as a child. This is a privilege that is not lost on me, and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity to do so. To be taking part in a show alongside both my parents is something I never thought possible when I first started painting, and it is something I am very excited to be doing now.

When I began painting my dad generously donated a portion of his studio for me to work in, and we spent the following two and a half years quite literally painting next to one another. This kind of ‘old master training’ meant that I could get continuous advice and pointers as I worked, and it undoubtably helped me as I learnt the ropes. This was invaluable as it meant I could quickly absorb practices that could make me more of a professional and avoid the pitfalls I’d have otherwise found myself in; be that the hours spent working, the kind of materials we’d use or the proper way to stretch and prepare a canvas. When I told friends about my working arrangement, I usually found their faces contorting into visions of horror, “You spend all day standing in the same room next to your dad?! How do you manage?!” In truth, it was a period full of enjoyment and laughter, and only served to deepen our friendship as adults.

I have also often been asked if I find myself being drawn into a competitive spirit with my parents, and the truth of it is that I don’t find that at all. I would suspect that if I had a sibling who also painted, things may be rather different in that regard. However, it is actually through our lack of competitiveness that we are able to share ideas, give advice and listen to criticism. My mum’s eagle eye for mistakes has certainly come in handy over the years, there’s no doubt about that. Painting is by its nature a highly solitary pursuit, with long hours in the studio with only your work for company. As such, to be able to get feedback from my parents prevents me from working in a vacuum, and, as family, we can often cut to the chase and say the things that friends are often too polite to say, “That nose doesn’t look quite right does it, Rory?” After all, one of the most enjoyable aspects of working at home was at the end of the day when we could all sit down with a beer, look at each other’s work and engage in artistic debate.

Since leaving the safety of my parents’ studio, I have set up my own studio in Edinburgh and began to learn what it is like to be an independent artist in my own right. At first when I heard suggestions of showing alongside my parents, this was something that I was apprehensive about. The pressure that came with it was enough to dissuade me, I didn’t feel ready at the time and pushed the notion aside. However, when the proposal of a House of Macdonald show came around this time, I found myself up for the challenge and excited by the prospect of it. I think in a way the House of Macdonald exhibition feels like the culmination of the last five years for me personally, a coming back home after going it alone for the first time as an artist.

Rory Macdonald, March 2024

Rory Macdonald in his Edinburgh Studio