News

EXHIBITION

27 Feb – 27 Sep 2026

Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface)

Jock McFadyen and Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) revisited McFadyen’s series of Underground paintings, first conceived in the late 1990s and reimagined in collaboration with musician and artist Jem Finer. McFadyen’s large paintings of London Tube stations were shown alongside Finer’s layered soundscapes, developed from field recordings made on the Underground. The pairing was first presented at Grey Gallery in London Fields in 2023. This larger exhibition brought together works borrowed from collections alongside a new Underground painting.

The exhibition also explored McFadyen’s depiction of London above the surface. His London stretched far beyond the canvas, vast, raw and radiant. The works presented a city that was both familiar and strange, where beauty lingered amid decay.

The exhibition concluded with McFadyen’s paintings of people.

Venue:
Guildhall Art Gallery
Guildhall Yard
London EC2V 5AE

More info:
news.cityoflondon.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)

IN CONVERSATION

30 Jun 2026, 3 – 4.30 pm

Places and Paint: Rowan Moore in conversation with Jock McFadyen

Rowan Moore and Jock McFadyen explored the fascination of the places McFadyen depicts on his canvases.

Rowan Moore is the architecture critic of The Observer and author of the Royal Academy biography of Jock McFadyen.

This event accompanies the exhibition Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface) at Guildhall Art Gallery.

Venue:
Guildhall Art Gallery, Basinghall Suite
Guildhall Yard
London EC2V 5AE

IN CONVERSATION

20 Apr 2026

Jock McFadyen & Jem Finer in conversation

Jock McFadyen and composer Jem Finer explored art, music and the hidden layers of the city beneath our feet.

Hosted by Will Gompertz, this conversation marked the exhibition Jock McFadyen with Jem Finer: Underground (and Surface).

Venue: Guildhall Art Gallery, London EC2V 5AE

Watch the conversation:
YouTube (opens in a new tab)

EXHIBITION

11 May – 16 Jun 2024

Jock McFadyen: Made in Hackney 2

Made in Hackney 2 featured landscape paintings created in the artist’s London Fields studio.

Most paintings are made indoors, as were cave paintings 40,000 years ago. This suits McFadyen, whose canvases can reach 2 × 3 metres and are hardly portable. The works here are smaller, often domestic in scale. Like Canaletto, who relied on memory and notes rather than gondoliers holding still, McFadyen paints Britain: urban and pastoral views, empty beaches, fleeting scenes from a speeding train, or Scottish wilderness with city lights on the horizon.

On this island the sea is never far away, nor is the city.

Venue:
The Grey Gallery
4 Helmsley Place, London Fields, E8 3SB

EXHIBITION

26 Apr – 24 May 2024

Pariah Genius

John Deakin, Jock McFadyen, Anonymous Bosch & Iain Sinclair

Cheerio Publishing, in tandem with their April publication of the mighty Iain Sinclair’s Pariah Genius, announce a month-long takeover of the historic and beautiful Swedenborg House in Bloomsbury for an exhibition of John Deakin’s photographs, Sinclair’s notes and research for the novel, as well as paintings by Jock McFadyen, a film by anonymous_bosch23, and events and talks inspired by the great photographer’s work.

Venue:
Swedenborg House, 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, London, WC1A 2TH

EXHIBITION

25 Nov 2023 – 18 Feb 2024

Jock McFadyen and Jem Finer: Underground

Underground is a two-person show pairing seven large paintings by Jock McFadyen RA with soundscapes by musician and artist Jem Finer.

McFadyen’s late-1990s Underground series draws on imagery from London tube stations. Works such as Bank and Elephant verge on abstraction, anchored by fragments of signage and iconography. Finer’s field recordings echo this approach, layering random sounds of the underground with recognisable notes from daily travel.

Venue:
The Grey Gallery, 4 Helmsley Place, London, E8 3SB

EXHIBITION

18 Mar – 14 May 2023

Red Yellow and Blue: Five pictures

McFadyen opened his studio in London Fields, East London, presenting for the first time together four recent paintings, including large-scale urban landscapes, along with figurative works.

Venue:
Grey Gallery at Jock McFadyen Studio, 4 Helmsley Place, London, E8 3SB

EXHIBITION

5 Feb – 10 Apr 2022

Jock McFadyen: Tourist without a Guidebook

Bringing together 20 works spanning almost 30 years, this free display in the Royal Academy of Arts' Weston Rooms explores Jock McFadyen’s fascination with London’s changing urban landscapes.

Venue:
Weston Rooms, Royal Academy of Art, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD

More info:
royalacademy.org.uk (opens in a new tab)

EXHIBITION

16 Oct – 27 Feb 2022

Jock McFadyen Goes to The Lowry: A Retrospective

A major retrospective displaying over 45 years of paintings from throughout McFadyen's life at The Lowry in Salford. McFadyen has also chosen a number of works from The Lowry Collection to feature in the exhibition alongside his own work.

Venue:
Lowry Gallery, The Lowry, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford, England, M50 3AZ

More info:
thelowry.com (opens in a new tab)

Interview

31 Oct 2021

Stark Talk

BBC Radio Scotland interview with Jock McFadyen.

Duration: 36:21 minutes

Listen or download via BBC Sounds (opens in a new tab)

EXHIBITION

11 Jun – 25 Sep 2021

Lost Boat Party

Scotland's Dovecot Studios, in partnership with The Scottish Gallery, celebrated the artist Jock McFadyen's 70th birthday year with Lost Boat Party, a major exhibition of over 20 large paintings, highlighting McFadyen’s understanding of the sublime landscape tradition, alongside the urban dystopia for which the artist is known.

The exhibition formed part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2021 programme.

Venue:
Dovecot Studios, 10 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LT
dovecotstudios.com (opens in a new tab)

IN CONVERSATION

12 August 2021

Edi Stark Talks Art with Jock McFadyen

In this live, informal conversation, Stark delved into the consideration of landscape and environment that drives McFadyen’s work and his unique, unromanticised reflections on Scotland. An online event.

Further details:
dovecotstudios.com (opens in a new tab)

ONLINE INTERVIEW

31 July 2021

Edinburgh Art Festival Launch Event
with Jock McFadyen & Simon Groom

Dovecot is delighted to celebrate the opening of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2021 with a live interview between artist Jock McFadyen RA and Simon Groom, Director of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Galleries of Scotland. An online event.

Further details:
dovecotstudios.com (opens in a new tab)

ONLINE TALK

30 June 2021

Making The Mallaig Commission
with Jock McFadyen

Discover all the behind the scenes insights of making our latest rug commission with Scottish Artist, Jock McFadyen. An online event.

Further details:
dovecotstudios.com (opens in a new tab)

ONLINE TALK

12 Jun 2021

In Conversation with Jock McFadyen

Discover Jock’s approach to painting the contemporary landscape in this online conversation with Christina Jansen, Director of The Scottish Gallery. An online event.

Further details:
dovecotstudios.com (opens in a new tab)

COLLABORATION

9 Jun 2021

The Mallaig Commission Tapestry

Jock McFadyen collaborated with Dovecot Studios on The Mallaig Commission – a major new artwork that interprets the Scottish artist’s gritty, urban vision through the dramatic sensuality of fine art textile.

The Mallaig Commission Artist Proof was on display as part of the exhibition Jock McFadyen: Lost Boat Party. The work was created in a limited edition of three artworks plus the initial Artist Proof.

Further details:
dovecotstudios.com (opens in a new tab)

INTERVIEW

23 Dec 2020

Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures

Jock McFadyen: Goes to the Pictures, an exhibition at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh. Teddy Jamieson from the Herald interviewed Jock about the background to this creative exhibition and the inspiration behind this new show.
Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

EXHIBITION

14 Nov 2020 – 1 Apr 2021

Jock McFadyen Goes to the Pictures

Marking McFadyen’s 70th birthday, this exhibition pairs his paintings with works from the City Art Centre’s collection of Scottish art.

Unexpected connections emerge through witty and striking juxtapositions, placing both McFadyen’s practice and the collection in a fresh context.
- Maeve Toal, Curator, City Art Centre

Venue:
City Art Centre, 2 Market St, Edinburgh EH1 1DE

City Art Centre website:
edinburghmuseums.org.uk (opens in a new tab)

ARTICLE on ARTLYST

02 Nov 2020

Significant Works

by Sue Hubbard

The derelict 1970s post-war city is the backdrop to many of his paintings of place, its liminal spaces before the rash of high-rise glass and steel developments, the influx of young bankers to Canary Wharf and Limehouse.

Continue reading:
artlyst.com (opens in a new tab)

ART UK Interview

30 Jun 2020

An interview with cityscape painter Jock McFadyen

by Ruth Millington

An exclusive interview undertaken by email between Ruth Millington and Jock McFadyen during lockdown...

Continue reading:
artuk.org (opens in a new tab)

Read / Download full interview(PDF, 7 pages, 177 KB)

Ruth Millington is an art critic and writer on modern and contemporary art. She has written for the i newspaper, Telegraph, Daily Mail, Sorbet Magazine and BBC Online, and appeared as an art expert on BBC Breakfast and ITV News. She also blogs about art and culture in Birmingham.

Visit blog:
ruthmillington.com (opens in a new tab)

CHARITY FUNDRAISING SALE

7 May 2020

Grey Gallery Covid-19 Artists’ Response

Jock McFadyen produced 3 special edition prints with 20% donation to The Trussell Trust food banks.

Nightsters 1
The Cultural Life of Cars
Portrait of The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

EXHIBITION

22 Feb – 22 Mar 2020

Estate

Paintings by Jock McFadyen, David Hepher and Keith Coventry

Venue:
Turps Gallery, Taplow House, Thurlow Street, London, SE17 2UQ