IN TOKYO, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE SCOTTISH ARTIST SHOWED A BIG PAINTING THAT TOOK SEVERAL YEARS TO PRODUCE

by Edward M. Gómez

TOKYO — Jack McLean is a Scottish artist who has lived and worked in Japan for nearly three decades. He is known for his line drawings of odd characters in reality-bending everyday situations, including the hands of an unseen ghoul sneaking up behind a TV-viewing couch potato, dinosaurs, skeletons, and ballerina soldiers wading through marsh-like waters, their rifles held high above their heads. McLean’s images are clever, goofy, and sometimes refreshingly sinister.

Recently, the artist presented an exhibition of a large painting, “1000 Rockers and One Fucking Bike,” along with several smaller, related pictures, at COIN, a small gallery at BROSS, a hair-cutting salon in Tokyo’s Nakameguro district. It was on view there from March 3 through May 3, 2023.