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Markey Robinson, sculptor and painter, was born in Belfast in 1918. He attended
Perth Street Public Elementary School and studied at the Belfast College of Art, however much of his art and colour co-ordination
was learnt from his grandfather, Thomas Robinson.
In his youth Markey boxed as "Boyo Marko" Robinson. He was also a
merchant seaman and travelled extensively, while being influenced by the Incas and the Aztecs as portrayed in his authentic
style of bold brush paintwork.
Markey also visited Spain and France on a number of occasions and assumed certain characteristics
of artists such as Matisse, Derain and Picasso. He developed and simplified their ideas making them his own with an open,
almost childlike honesty, without moving into the realm of pure abstraction.
Markey has been described as a primitive
painter, a colourful character and a man of great complexity, over the years. In the early days he contemplated emigration
due to the apathy towards his work. Oliver McNulty of the Oriel Gallery, Dublin, explained that reactions to Markey's paintings
could be divided into love or hate. He continued to say that invariably those whose first reaction is the latter, convert
to the former when exposed to his work.
For well over half a century, Markey produced both significant and controversial
works of art. He painted from memory and mind and is best known for paintings of landscapes, still life, clown and figure
studies. He travelled and exhibited widely until his sudden death in 1999
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