Pete Mc Kee - Biography

Biography

Pete Mckee was born in February, 1966, and grew up on a Sheffield council estate. The artist lost his mother to cancer at a very early age.

Although his dream was to go to art college he ended up working in a factory. The way he kept his artistic influences was in his band (his current band is a ukulele group under the name of The Everly Pregnant Brothers) and doing logos and stuff of the sort, but at that time his focus was mainly on trying to find a record producer.

He started sending drawings to the Fanzine for Sheffield Wednesday and they rang offering him £50. Encouraged by this he started drawing for the Sheffield Telegraph and has continued to do so since.

McKee decided to concentrate on his painting in 2004 and began by painting with emulsion on MDF boards.

McKee opened his first London show, entitled ‘Lost Weekends’ in 2007 and has also exhibited in Birmingham and New York since then. Subsequently he was commissioned by Acme studios to interpret characters from US TV shows The Simpsons, Family Guy and Futurama.

In 2007 McKee was commissioned by Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher to paint him as part of Gibson Guitar’s “Guitar Town” show. McKee painted a portrait of the guitarist onto a 10 foot fibreglass guitar which was displayed as part of the open air exhibition on London’s South Bank.

Early 2010 Pete was invited to design a limited edition pair of Clarks Desert Boots, using the original style template and giving it a McKee makeover. To celebrate the heritage of the original boot Pete created a striking pair of images featuring a groups of Mods, for the men’s boot, and Modettes for the women's. The boots were sold worldwide in selected Clarks Shops, specifically in Paris, New York and Japan.

Again in 2010 Pete was approached by Internationally Renowned Designer, Sir Paul Smith, with a view to staging an exhibition of his work at the flagship Tokyo Paul Smith Store. This saw the development of Teenage Kicks – a beautifully produced limited edition book that celebrates the influence a musical awakening had on Pete. This McKee retrospective takes in several musical genres, Goth, Punk, Rock, Hippies and Rap are amongst the styles featured in this coffee table tome. And as it comes complete with a very special 12” etched piece of white vinyl Pete has finally realised a dream of having a successful, critically acclaimed record (of sorts). To commemorate this collaboration selected images were reproduced on Paul Smith clothing and bags specifically for the Japanese market.

June 2010 saw the opening of Pete McKee’s first dedicated Gallery a Month of Sundays'. Situated in Sheffield’s Hunters Bar district, ‘A Month of Sundays’ has already become an eye-catching addition to an already bustling High Street.