Ewan McDougall was born in Wellington, New Zealand. His family later moved to Oamaru where he was educated at Waitaki Boys High School and taught painting by Colin Wheeler.

Ewan attended Otago University while also working in freezing works and drumming in rock bands. He gained an Honours Degree in Political Studies in 1971. He worked at Otago University as a junior lecturer and tutor before leaving to travel overseas.

Over the ensuing decade Ewan travelled extensively, working on oilrigs and in pubs and mines. In the early 1980’s Ewan returned to New Zealand with his partner, writer Sarah McDougall. In 1988, after years of partying hard Ewan gave up drugs and alcohol and returned to painting. He has subsequently developed a vibrant signature style. His witty, outrageous works are inhabited by a wealth of personal references to his well-lived life.

Ewan has had 42 solo exhibitions in some of New Zealand’s most prominent dealer galleries as well as exhibiting internationally. In 1994 he exhibited in Cornwall. In 2004 he showed new paintings with Gallery 2021 as part of the Sydney Art Show. McDougall exhibited in London in 2005 with the prestigious West End Gallery and the Rebecca Hossack Gallery as well as taking part in ‘Art London’, the Chelsea Art Show, the London Art Show and the London Raw Arts Festival. Later the same year Ewan exhibited alongside three other international artists at Arte Immagini Gallery in Cremona City.

In 2006 Ewan is booked to exhibit at the Spanish Raw Art Exhibition in Valencia, Spain and planning for another solo exhibition in 2007 with the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London is underway.

Ewan’s works have previously been selected for exhibition at the Manawatu Public Art Gallery and were featured in 2003 as part of ‘Southern Heat’ at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Ewan is a seven-time finalist in the Wallace Art Awards and a prizewinner in the Mainland and Cleveland Art Awards. He was a finalist in the Park Lane Art Awards 2006, and in the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Award 2006. He has paintings in a number of public collections and innumerable private collections.

Artist Statement:

I am an Expressionist painter. I do not plan a painting or draw. I commence the work with a quick wash of strong, primary colour and then begin to hurriedly paint figures-people, animals and hybrid creatures. I add crude marks for volcanoes, hills, sea, buildings, boats, clouds, sun and moon working with vibrant impasto. The painting forms and informs me as to what it is. The last stroke is always the title. Above all I prize spontaneity, colour and a good dose of irony. I love being a painter. - Ewan McDougall