Delight.

THESE HUGE, LUSTROUS SCREEN PRINTS OF AMERICAN SKYSCRAPERS BY SCOTTISH ARTIST JOHN MACKECHNIE REINTERPRET THE HARD-EDGED URBAN REALM AS A RICHLY SENSUOUS, ABSTRACT FUSION OF LIGHT AND COLOUR.

John Mackechnie is a Scottish printmaker whose observations of the built environment form the basis for a series of compelling and sensuous works on paper. In particular, Mackechnie has been drawn to American cities and the effects of reflection and distortion on the glass skins of towering skyscrapers. Mutated architecture and warped grids form abstract yet somehow familiar representation of the city, crystallized and amplified through an artist's critical gaze.

Mackechnie first became intrigued by urban landscapes on a photographic expedition to America in 1982. In New York he shot the Chrysler Building reflected in its surroundings and made a monochrome etching based on the photograph. Recently he has returned to this theme and using current techniques of computer manipulation produced a series of large-scale screen prints based on his photographs of buildings. In Mackechnies lush geometric assemblages of shimmering colour and texture, famous landmarks such as Chicago's Sears Tower and the World Trade Center in New York become dematerialized ciphers in a surreal cityscape.

The process of realization is complex; photographic images are manipulated by computer and the resulting print-outs used to make film negatives. These form the basis for the silk screen prints. The outcome is a series of lush geometric assemblages of gleaming colour and light. The softly blurred, photograph-like images glow with a hypnotic intensity that recalls the texture of watered silk.

Since 1983 Mackechnie has been director of the Glasgow Print Studio, which encourages and promotes printmaking in the West of Scotland and instigates collaborations with artists. Entitled 'Urban Myth', these latest prints were created over the past year. Mackechnie plans to extend the series and increase the scale of the works -- the subject matter to demand it.