Jock McFadyen RA: Tourist without a Guidebook will be on display at the Royal Academy of Arts from the 6th February.
To celebrate the artist’s birthday, the Royal Academy of Arts will celebrate by presenting a free display of his work, exploring McFadyen’s ongoing interest in the changing urban landscape, focusing on his pictures of East London, where he has lived and worked for the past 40 years.
This exhibition is one of four exhibitions across the UK to celebrate the artist’s work. It will follow on from the recently opened presentation at City
Art Centre, Edinburgh, and will be followed by an exhibition at Edinburgh’s Dovecot Studios and The Scottish Gallery, and an exhibition at The Lowry in Manchester.
Jock McFadyen RA: Tourist without a Guidebook will open with a pivotal moment in the artist’s development, the decision to reduce the human figure and to make the location the subject of his work.
The display takes its title from an essay by Tom Lubbock, who described McFadyen’s approach to painting as, “like a sightseer without a guidebook”.
Jock McFadyen said: ” The guidebook quote comes from when Tom wrote the catalogue for my 1992 exhibition Fragments From Berlin at the Imperial War Museum. It struck a chord as he had perfectly described my attitude to painting places and since that time I have carried the words close to my heart as I wander about the place not looking for anything.”
Jock McFadyen RA: Tourist without a Guidebook will be on display at the Royal Academy of Arts from the 6th February until the 11th April.