ARTIST STATEMENT

Luke McKenzie (b. 2002) is an early career oil painter based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Working across both Landscape and portraiture, Luke’s practice extends the extraordinary pictorial tradition of the renaissance and transforms it into something contemporary through his choice of subject matter. Grounded in a personal melding of queerness and Catholicism, his work presents modern queerness as though it were martyrdom.

Luke’s practice began on the rich Newcastle queer scene, where he painted drag artists and bar goers alike. Since these formative years, Luke has delved into depicting these people in much more a quaint and humanising setting, freezing these moments of authenticity in time to create a legacy built on a queer history in the making.

In a digital era of fast paced living, people are yearning for tangible pieces of art. It has become a luxury to be able to view something not on a screen, and an even bigger privilege to create something physical.