Malcolm's roots are firmly planted in the North East of England, an area whose character and landscape has been defined by its industrial history. His forefathers were lead miners working the seams on bleak Alston Moor, and successive generations coal mined in Tynedale and close to Newcastle. Malcolm himself was born in the Elswick district of Newcastle in 1944, and lived and worked for much of his life near to the city. For the past twenty years he has lived in a market town in Northumberland.
Malcolm’s passion for painting has always been an integral part of his life. In his early career as a teacher his interest in art took up much of his spare time, and in more recent years he has occupied three galleries in the North East and has devoted more and more time to his painting. He holds regular solo exhibitions all over the UK, and one such exhibition, 'A Glimpse of the Great North', was televised by the BBC.
Much of Malcolm’s work has arisen from the industrial history of his local area. His love of these locations and his genuine admiration for the scenes and characters he recreates comes across in the strong sense of community and camaraderie that defines all of his highly evocative work. It is the honesty of his approach that sets his work apart from his contemporaries however; he has an extraordinary ability to convey the reality of everyday life and the atmosphere of each scene, rather than simply to recreate the literal image.
“For me my personal identity has always been linked with a sense of social togetherness which was so much a part of my own childhood, and it is this sense of loyalty and shared experience that I aim to capture in my paintings.”