McKenzie Smith, Ian, Dr, OBE CBE RSA PPRSA RSW
b. 1935
Studied at Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen from 1953 - 58 and then at Hospitalfield House, Arbroath. In the 1960's he won a travelling scholarship to Paris where he was impressed by the work of the Japanese artist Kenzo Okado and the Zen art of great Japanese masters such as Hakuin and Sengai. He finally met Okado in New York in 1981. Ian McKenzie Smith's paintings show the influence of abstraction and Oriental philosophy in their minimalism, simplicity and the absence of visible brushstrokes. He was the Director of Aberdeen Art Gallery for almost thirty years from 1968. He was President of the RSW from 1988- and was elected President of the RSA on 18th November 1998 a post which he held until November 2007. Ian McKenzie Smith first exhibited at the RSA Annual Exhibitions in 1960. He became an Associate Member in 1973 and an Academician in 1987. In 2000 he changed his name from Smith, Ian McKenzie to McKenzie Smith, Ian.
