Rory donates artwork to ASPCA event in New York

On October 8th, whilst preparing my New York debut exhibition, I was privilidged to be invited to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals annual fundraiser called 'It's raining Cats and Dogs!', which took place at the fabulous IAC building in Chelsea.

On the evening, I donated the prize of a bespoke portrait in the silent auction, which was snaffled up by a voracious bidder in order that I paint her Dachshund on my return to the city this coming Jan!

The evening was a huge success for all concerned, and a fabulous party was layed on for those attending, including a few famous faces such as Brooklyn Decker, Diane Passage and Ken Starr; I myself was fortunate enough to be photographed amongst them:

http://www.patrickmcmullan.com/site/search.aspx?t=eventName&s=raining%20cats%20and%20dogs&page=6&pgSize=16&sortdir=DESC

Until the next event - may the dogs keep raining over my head!

Rory makes front cover of Quest magazine in USA!

After the recent splurge of work produced in the States, the crowning moment of the trip was being photographed for the front cover of the popular Quest magazine, complete with a two-page article inside. The further two pages can be viewed in the Press page.  

Rory Mackay debuts at 'The Grey Dog' in New York

This month saw the debut of a flurry of new and exciting work by Rory in an exhibition that was installed in a popular restaurant called (appropriately) The Grey Dogs Coffee, in the East Village district of Manhattan (90 University Place). The work produced focuses on the artist's continuing theme of capturing these beloved pets in more and more quirky poses that embody surprisingly human emotions; such as 'Hair of the Dog' - a painting that presents an old and exhausted Boxer, baking in the midday heat in Italy with his tongue hanging slackly out the side of his mouth, eyes barely animated - was titled thus as the pose elicits an all-too-familiar relation to that dreadful hangover that comes the morning after the night before.

In keeping with this human evocation to the work, Rory produced nine bold and unique paintings that characteristically blend the traditional with the contemporary through his use of exciting mixed acrylic mediums, pastels and oil bar that bring the backgrounds to life but with a cartoonish aspect to them that encapsulates the very playful and child-like qualities of the dogs he has painted, who, in return are represented with the respect accorded to that of any other subject that might sit for a traditional portrait, in rich oil paint.

All of the paintings are available to view in the gallery now - look out for the characterful titles such as 'Throw it again, throw it again!' that features a neurotic-looking Burmese mountain dog standing impatiently over his ball, or the tryptic featuring a Weimeraner, the theme for which plays on the infamous 'Hear no evil, see no evil...' idiom.

The show at Grey Dog continues until Janurary 2010