Mackenzie Thorpe

Artist Biography

Mackenzie was born in 1956, the eldest of seven children. His early years were spent in a small terraced house in the town center of Middlesborough. His early formative years were spent playing in and around the streets and back alleys of terraced houses. Derelict bombed out houses provided an exciting playground for Mackenzie and his Uncle Lawrence, three years older and a protective, guiding influence in Mackenzie's life. Mackenzie's father worked as a laborer and his mother an auxiliary nurse. Life for the Thorpe family was no different to that of most of their community, at times a struggle. He has not forgotten the loneliness and isolation, the fear and the darkness that was ever present, waiting it seemed in every shadow. The vivid reality of these barely faded memories is apparent in some of Mackenzie's art, prints and posters.

The need and compulsion to draw was obvious from an early age, he would seek out and create with whatever raw materials he could find. Life for most people was about struggle and survival. Mackenzie's driving force was always to draw art, prints and posters. He did not, could not, question this need. It is a need that remains with him today.

Mackenzie is one of those rare artists who are completely inseparable from their work. His restless energy and his passionate concern for humanity are as evident in his freewheeling conversation as in his art, prints and posters. Whether he is depicting one of his notorious ‘square sheep', a group of burly men hunched over their dominoes in a smoky pub or a fantasy Wild West shoot-out, his work speaks to you as decisively and compellingly as if he had slapped you on the shoulder. There is no pretension, no aloofness, just the urge to explore and communicate a deeply felt emotion.

Mackenzie Thorpe Art, Prints and Posters Collection