"Before I met with Jones for the first time, I did not anticipate just how excited I would be when I left his studio that evening. When I saw the prototype for the pieces, I knew I was witnessing something absolutely revolutionary in terms of visual art in this country." ~Dr Fern Insh, Art Historian
Artist Statement
I consider myself a traditional painter but one who is also absolutely fascinated with art and tech collaboration. I explore how new technology can be used to more actively engage the viewer. We're amid a digital revolution and so my aim is to investigate how various technologies can be incorporated with my work to enhance or alter the viewer experience. Over the last few years the themes informing my work have become more and more intertwined with my interests in tech and modern communication. Every artwork tells a story and AR, near field communication tags, video, social media integration and other digital elements that I employ enables me to present my paintings in innovative and captivating ways and to even entirely change the way one experiences the artwork.
In June of 2017 I purchased some bitcoin and soon after I fell down the proverbial rabbit hole. Since then, my paintings have focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency; themes, ideas and people.
In June of 2017 I purchased some bitcoin and soon after I fell down the proverbial rabbit hole. Since then, my paintings have focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency; themes, ideas and people.
The Creative Journey
"Colour is a power which directly influences the soul. Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammer, the soul is the strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul." ~ Wassily Kandinsky, Concerning the Spiritual in Art, 1911
Country Girl, mixed media on board, 60 x 60 cm
Inspired by Primal Scream
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Colour and Music
From 2005 to 2011 much of my creativity centered around the phenomenon of synaesthesia and the 'connection' between musical notes and colour. "Synaesthesia is a truly fascinating condition. In its simplest form it is best described as a union of the senses whereby two or more of the five senses that are normally experienced separately are involuntarily and automatically joined together. For example, some synaesthetes experience colour when they hear sounds or read words." ~ UK Synaesthesia Association |
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QR Codes
My journey through much of Art College and a few years after had been enthused with interests including colour therapy and colour music codes. However, I discovered QR codes in the summer of 2011 and my preoccupations took a sudden turn. I began trying to find a way to create visually engaging, 'painterly' QR codes while being confined to this grid like, computer generated pattern. I created an interactive website and online gallery that could be accessed by scanning the paintings. I spent the next 12 months with a paintbrush in one hand and my smartphone in the other, experimenting with QR code error correction levels, tone, colour, and edges and then scanning the paintings every few minutes after changes to make sure they still 'worked'. It was a trial and error process with a lot of time spent online figuring out some technical aspect or just scratching my head in the studio trying to understand what was going wrong. After all the headaches I believe I've created an innovative series of 'tech-fueled' artworks steeped in the tradition of Scottish painting. Read a short essay about how these QR code paintings are connected to the history of Scottish art: Virtual Enlightenment by Dr Fern Insh. |
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Augmented Reality
Admittedly, I confused almost everyone who knew me and my music inspired 'Synaesthesia' paintings when I left them behind in 2011 for a new-found fascination with QR codes. Although the tech integration into these paintings attracted a little bit of attention (mostly negative except from a few close allies and some newfound fans in the tech world) very few really understood why I, as an artist, would be so excited about these odd looking squares. It was difficult to continue pushing forward knowing that almost no one in the art world was interested in my new direction. Regardless, I couldn't let it go. 
Dream Theme, 2011
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Then I discovered Augmented Reality the end of 2012 and an ever bigger, more exciting, more engaging world of digital imagery, storytelling, and technological possibilities opened up for me. I felt rejuvenated because I was no longer creatively constrained to these seemingly arbitrarily patterned squares.
It's been a long and arduous process pursuing my passion for technologically inspired paintings while at the same time gradually coming to the realisation that these works would struggle to be accepted into the more conservative Scottish art establishment and commercial galleries. Since 2015 I've slowly distanced myself from the local art scene I've been focusing on the tech world and connecting with fans of my new work on an international level. 
Augmented Reality McAfee
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