Makoure Scott 2020 “Galaxy” Series

The artist held his first solo exhibition on 2001 following his time spent working in the art department for the film “The Lord of the Rings”. His initial interest and inspiration were derived from his country’s Maori ethnicity with his first exhibition being titled “Koru” which means “new beginnings” in the Maori language. His second exhibition was titled “Dream Waka” and celebrated the sea voyages of exploration undertaken by the early Maori settlers.

Several more exhibitions followed inspired by his continued interests in local ethnic origins culminating in an exhibition in 2003 entitled “War”. The exhibition recognized the bitter battles that were fought between the Maoris and the early European settlers along with the internecine wars fought between the thirteen Maori Iwi (tribes). The artist was also keenly aware of the Iraq war being fought at this time, referencing this military action in his “War” series”.

As a dyslexic musician and artist who experiences a neurological condition called Synaesthesia he was drawn towards creating a musically inspired series of works in late 2003 which he titled the”Harmonic” series. The series consists of four large works. Each canvas was harmonically primed by analogue sound infusions created in the artist’s studio.

Another area of great inspiration for the deeply spiritual artist is Space, derived from his keen interests in astronomy, quantum mechanics, geometric form, nebulas, auroras, black holes, volcanic chasma etc.

The artist goes to great lengths to try and connect the materials he uses to the subject of the painting. From studying the ancient burial chambers in Egypt he noted the strong colours that exist from the use of semi-precious and precious stones and gold crushed and mixed with crocodile oil to create vivid pigments. For his Space Synapse series he used crushed asteroid musing that the stellar object had travelled hundreds of millions of miles and taking a multitude of years to arrive on earth and finally be incorporated onto one of his canvases.

In 2008 following his sub-orbital training experiences at NASA in the USA he created the first paintings for his continuous series entitled “Galaxy”. The series has evolved over the years culminating in 2020 into the present group of abstract paintings.

Makoure Scott has long admired the great American Abstract artist Jackson Pollock and like Pollock he studied the techniques and philosophies of Native American sand painters. Using the same methods he used sticks and his hands,working around the outer edges of the canvas in a continuous circular fashion to create the works.

His freestyle abstract paintings like the latest “Galaxy” series are created without conscious thought,guided by a subconscious intelligence, until at a certain moment he concludes the work is finished.

His methods of grinding stones, meteorite dust and ochres to extract unusual pigments and textures, are fundamental to his work and emphasize his deep interest in astronomy and its origins and the connection between Earth and the heavens.

In conclusion Makoure Scott’s art is perhaps best described by Robert Upstone’s comments while head of British Modern Art at Tate Britain:

“It is the deep spiritual resonance and intensity of Scott’s art that makes it so distinctive and this partly finds expression in the geometric sanctity and purity of his designs. Nevertheless they are designs which have their origin in landscape and are abstracted from it.

Elemental. Fired from the landscape itself, they give the expression to the eternal connection that humanity feels with the earth, and with our process through time and history.
These are works of art that are truly eternal.”

Brian Ivon Jones.

London & Shenzhen

1st July 2021