John McLean (1939 - 2019) was born in Liverpool, the son of Talbert McLean, a teacher and gifted painter. The family moved to Scotland during the second world war and John grew up in Kirriemuir, in Angus; as her result, he remained an ardent Scot all his life. A largely self-taught abstract painter, he also made drawings, collages, sculptures, prints and stained glass; the windows he designed for Norwich Cathedral 2014 were amongst the artist’s favourite pieces and most admired works.
McLean’s influences were diverse including early Italian painting, the Abstract Expressionists, the work of Miro and Matisse, as well as his experience of living in America and Canada in the 1980’s. He drew inspiration from the world around him in an indirect way, saying ‘painting abstractly doesn’t mean independence of the natural world. The most obvious aspect of the natural world that affects my work is light.’
In 1996, McLean began making prints with Kip Gresham. Over the 23 years that they worked together, they explored most of the print media and also made many monoprints (unique works). The prints both drew from, and fed back into, his painting, exploring the dramatic tensions, colour and spontaneity which characterised McLean’s pictures. Gresham describes viewing McLean’s work as a dynamic experience; ‘the eye is pulled across the surface, sometimes with an easy grace, sometimes with speed and energy’. The set of nine coloured etchings titled ‘Merry go Round’, one of Gresham and Mclean’s greatest achievements, was made in 2016 but had been planned as early as 2003; the stars had to align to make it possible.
McLean studied at The University of St Andrews from 1957-62 and The Courtauld Institute, London from 1963-66. He lived and worked across America and Scotland throughout his life but spent his later years living at the Barbican, London. In his 70’s he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. 'Which Way Up,’ a feature length film by Michael Proudfoot, documented his working methods in this period. Despite the obvious challenges posed by Parkinson’s, McLean said that his illness ‘exposed me to techniques that I might have otherwise missed’. He is survived by his wife, Jan.
