The Approach is delighted to present the first solo exhibition in the UK by London-based, Scottish artist John Maclean.

With a focus on landscape and contemplative outdoor scenes, Maclean sources his imagery from salvaged, hand-tinted postcards or print-outs from the internet. Editing out the majority of a full image, he concentrates on an otherwise peripheral feature, such as a tree, house, waterfall or mountain, enhancing the registration of the images (often affected by discoloration) with new rich and exaggerated hues. Using watercolour on board, Maclean’s modestly sized paintings follow a repetitive process of application, rubbing down and re-painting, creating a palimpsestic surface where the previous layers are only discretely visible.

Although small, these paintings evoke ideas of a larger narrative, where we, the viewer, only experience a single vignette from a much broader storyline. With its story-telling qualities, it is difficult not to compare Maclean’s approach to painting with his other creative pursuit in writing and directing films. However, in a recent interview, he also pointed out what he enjoys most about the particularities and differences between the two practices: “painting is most like writing – in terms of its relationship to filmmaking. You need time to think and to experiment. It is essentially a lonely pursuit. Much of one’s time is spent on research, on dreaming, on false starts and minor breakthroughs. When it comes to actually shooting a film, it’s probably as far from painting as can be; making a film is all collaboration, a form of improvised madness, watching the clock, and shifting with the external circumstances. I love this social and chaotic aspect of filmmaking precisely because it’s the opposite of painting.”[1]

[1] Maclean in conversation with Matthew Higgs