Welcome to the twenty-second blog post from the Collection Technicians. Andrew Mackenzie was born in the North-East of Scotland and studied at Edinburgh College of Art. His work focuses on contemporary landscape painting and abstraction. His work, ‘Reassuring Orange Glow’, which we have in our collection, is inspired by travelling through the Scottish landscape.
Mackenzies more recent work focuses on trees, particularly trees which have grown in built up areas and cities. His work is highly entwined with ecology and conservation. In an interview with ‘Verlade Gallery’ Mackenzie mentions how he feels we have become disconnected from our part in nature, his new work looks to visually display this disconnect.
Mackenzie works in layers, in subject matter as well as medium. Paint is put on and taken off until Mackenzie is happy with the result. In ‘Reassuring Orange Glow’ spray paint is used to create the orange hue which sits behind the central circle. It’s interesting to see Mackenzies recent work alongside this earlier work. The painting we have in the collection is from the late 1990s, it is minimalist and direct, whereas Mackenzies more recent work is layered with multiple motifs, trees and other visual elements.
6 October 2026 by
Vanessa Paynton