27/09/2026
Today we mourn the death of our old friend and gallery artist, Malcolm Ludvigsen.
Rest well, Malcolm. Thank you for the painterly memories. Love, Greg and Ails xx
Here’s an excerpt of an article from Yorkshire Post, 2012, celebrating a group show which Malcolm led with his instantly recognisable oil paintings.
‘…Malcolm has responded to the brief with his characteristically Impressionistic versions of York Races.
Interestingly, it's not the provocative nature of some of the work being shown in this exhibition but the inclusion of Ludvigsen that has for now attracted the most grumblings. "It's fair to say that we've had a few people in or emailing us over the last 2 weeks who claim to have had enough of seeing Ludvigsen's paintings around the city. There's Ludvigsen fatigue in York! But Malcolm's got nothing to apologise for."
One of the criticisms thrown at Ludvigsen is that he's 'too traditional': "I don't mind this at all," says the Professor of Mathematics turned worldwide selling oil painter, "I'd much rather do my own thing, traditional though it may be, than be original like everybody else. I simply paint the things I find visually interesting." Malcolm puts his commercial success down to the fact that they're painted en plein air, "Somebody once said that a brush stroke done in nature is worth twenty in the studio, and it's this that gives them their vibrancy."
Commercial success has brought a considerable amount of negative grumbling, with one local conceptual artist calling Malcolm's work 'pot boilers'. "Malcolm's at an intersting point in his career. He's gathering supporters in tandem with detractors - his work is ubiquitous, and he has a distinctive style that irritates certain people," says Greg, "Maybe it's the tall poppy thing."
"From a gallery's point of view, Malcolm is great to work with," says co-owner Ails McGee, "He's very professional, he's tirelessly sociable, and he's very prolific, and he's dependable: he turns up to drop work off or pick it up. His work is certainly collectable. He's upped the ante - he's everywhere because he puts the hours in, and sometimes he gets it just right. In a sense, he's a challenge to to other local artists - stop thinking about it, just do it."’
