Ian McKenzie Smith CBE PPRSA PPRSW RGI HRA

Ian McKenzie-Smith’s paintings show his enduring commitment to a distinctly personal brand of landscape-based abstraction: a subtle, evocative way of painting, that owes something to Eastern traditions, as well as to the American colour-field painters of the 1950’s. He took part in Compass Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in 1969 and has been a regular exhibitor throughout the past 40 years. In his previous exhibitions with us, we wrote of the calm, quiet quality of his work that inspired our admiration. These qualities continue unabated to inspire the viewers and his hallmark is immediately evident, highlighting a personal and thought provoking calmness: nothing is sharply defined, atmosphere and ambient colour are suggested at times with an almost oriental restraint.