Jock McFadyen was born in Paisley in 1950 and moved to England aged 15 in 1966. He gained his BA and MA from Chelsea School of Art which he attended from 1973 to 1977. His first solo show was held at the Acme Gallery in London in 1978. Since then he has had over 40 solo exhibitions including at the National Gallery (residency show), Camden Arts Centre, the Imperial War Museum, Manchester Art Gallery, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Talbot Rice (Edinburgh Festival) and the Pier Art Centre (St Magnus Festival). His work has been included in many mixed exhibitions in the UK and abroad including John Moores, Hayward Annual and The British Art Show. In 1981 McFadyen was appointed Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London and a decade later he was invited to design sets and costumes for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s last ballet, The Judas Tree (1992) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Starting in 2020, four solo exhibitions were held to celebrate McFadyen’s 70th birthday: 'Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures' (City Art Centre, Edinburgh); 'Jock McFadyen: Lost Boat Party' (Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh); 'Jock McFadyen Goes to The Lowry: A Retrospective' (The Lowry, Salford) and in 2022, 'Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook', Royal Academy, London.
McFadyen’s work is held in 40 public museum collections including Tate, the National Gallery, the V&A, the British Museum and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art as well as many corporate and private collections in the UK and abroad.
McFadyen lives and works in London, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.
Text source: Royal Academy of Arts
