The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Celebrated artist is still game
Jack Morrocco wears “as a badge of pride” the fact that he continues painting as he nears 65. His exhibition, entitled Pictures In A Gallery, is on at the Fraser Gallery, St Andrews, until January 7
For many in Scotland who have reached the age of 64, the mind start to turn to life after work. For artist Jack Morrocco, the upcoming milestone that is his 65th birthday is unlikely to make a jot of difference to him.
“For musicians and artists, it’s not a thing you stop doing when you’re 65; it’s not really a job, it’s a way of life. Some of my friends who were accountants and lawyers are retired now, and they all ask me when I’m going to retire. Well, painting is what I’d be doing if I was retired, so it’s not something I’m going to stop doing.”
The Edinburgh-born and Duncan of Jordanstone-educated painter of still life and landscapes recalls the 1998 funeral of his artist uncle, Alberto Morrocco.
On an easel in the church was the very last painting he had created, just a few weeks before his death. Jack Morrocco is also determined to keep painting for as long as he can.
Pictures In A Gallery has opened at the Fraser Gallery in St Andrews, the town where he went to school and which lies close to his current Fife home.
Morrocco says this exhibition represents pretty much everything he’s painted in 2017 and as well as pulling together a calendar-year’s work, he’s viewed it as a chance to pictorially represent more of his home nation.
“Although I’ve painted landscapes for the past decade, I’ve painted almost nothing of Scotland. So there are pieces painted in St Andrews of the Lade Braes and the lily pond in the Botanic Gardens,” he said.
“What attracted me to those places is the same thing that attracted me to the works I’ve painted in Venice or the Canal
du Midi, which is the reflection on water.”
A well-travelled artist, Morrocco divides his working year between Fife and the south of France, where he goes in search of both sunshine and the inspiration which flows from being in a warm climate.
“I probably do it the wrong way round by spending winter in Scotland and summer in France and travelling Europe. A lot of the contrast of light and shade that you get around the Mediterranean in the summer is really something: everything just comes to life.
“I have a studio in the south of France and I bring all the reference material and photographs back and work here in the cold. The benefit of painting through the winter in Scotland is that there are fewer distractions.”
Many summers ago, when Morrocco was a young art student in 1973, he spent time at Arbroath’s Hospitalfield House under the temporary guidance of Pop Art pioneer Peter Blake.
As a visiting tutor, the man who created the Sgt Pepper album cover and designed the 2012 Brit Award trophies left a big impression on the young Morrocco.
“His influence appears more in my studio still life work with the assembling of images and items that are relevant to your own life and making a composition from them. There was his self-portrait where he’d assembled all the badges he’d ever worn. But it was just super to get to know someone who at that time was at the forefront of international art.
“Me being 20 then, I didn’t give him any of the respect he was due, but we had a very good relationship and played volleyball at night.”
Over 40 years on from that glorious summer, Morrocco recalls one reflection from Blake which has stayed with him to this very day.
“The 12 of us there were the best students in Scotland, supposedly. He said to us: ‘How many of you will be painting in 20 years?’.
“It was a bit of a depressing thought at the time, but I keep it as a badge of honour that I am 64 and still painting.”
It was just super to get to know someone who at that time was at the forefront of art