John Blackburn: 90 Years

In June 2022 we celebrated the milestone of John’s 90th birthday and four months ago he sent us a collection of stunning new paintings for his 2023 exhibition. It was whilst those paintings were at the framers in preparation for this exhibition that we received the sad news of John’s passing on October 22nd.

Since 2009 John has been a massive supporter of ARTIS Gallery and a valued mentor to our younger artists. We have formed a strong personal friendship with John and Maude. John’s elegant presence at his exhibition openings will be sorely missed. As John said to me in 2017, ‘there’s no point in simply doing what you already know; the important thing is to search for what you don’t know’.