About Mackenzie
b. 1956, Middlesbrough, England
Born the eldest of seven children, into a working class family in the industrial north-east, growing up was not easy for Mackenzie. From a young age he loved to draw and paint, but with cash in short supply, the family could not indulge his passion for art. Undeterred, he would substitute whatever he could find for art materials; flattened out cigarette packs, eyeliner pencils and even his mothers lipstick were deployed in his quest to paint. At school, he was written off as hopeless, called stupid and mocked and laughed at by his peers, as he struggled in vain to learn to read and write. Unfortunately Mackenzie suffered from dyslexia, a condition virtually unheard of in the early 1960’s, and therefore it was no surprise that he left school at fifteen without any formal qualifications and went straight into manual work in the shipyards and industry of the region.
Not giving up on his dream Mackenzie managed, against all odds, to gain a place at Art College in Middlesbrough followed by Byam Shaw School of Art in London. In the years following his qualifiication Mackenzie worked for a local authority teaching art and craft and along with his wife Susan, opened an art materials shop in Richmond, North Yorkshire. Unsurprisingly in a small market town, there was little demand for the oils and watercolours the shop stocked so Mackenzie started using the art materials himself. Day after day he would put new images in the window, and people going about their business would look and comment. The reaction initially was not very encouraging (to say the least), he was drawing square sheep surrounded by vast panoramic sky’s, giraffes, screaming heads, northern industrial scenes, man at the edge of life, desperation, isolation and loneliness. Slowly however, people started seeing more in the work and as they talked to him they started understanding him and his work and eventually they started buying pieces! Today Mackenzie's work is exhibited and collected in galleries across the world, from Japan to Australia; the U.S.A to New Zealand, as well as Europe and the UK
Mackenzie’s story is undoubtedly inspiring, he has managed to defy the odds as laid out by his birthright and created for himself through sheer hard work, determination and of course talent, a very successful career. Through his work he has managed to reach out and connect with people from all walks of life irrespective of age, gender, social class, or nationality and his art hangs in individual and corporate collections. With collectors from the world of sport, music, film, politics and royalty, his journey from dyslexic child to international artist exhibiting worldwide is by anyone’s standards compelling.
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