Self Portrait 1993
Artist Robert Edward MacDonald, Jr. (MacDonald) was born on May 31, 1958, in Lima, Ohio. He attended Tri-State University for Mechanical Engineering where his interest in art and drawing led him to take every mechanical drafting class offered. Later transferring to Ohio State University, he studied TV and film production and political science with an emphasis on Judicial Policy receiving a BA in Communications and a BA in Political Science. MacDonald also attended Holborne College/Wolverhampton Law School in London, UK.
The proud owner of a new sign!
In 1987, MacDonald established VMI (Video & Film Production) in Nashville, Tennessee sharing an office with movie star Jim Varney “You know what I mean – Vern?” VMI went on to produce programs for SPEED Channel, TNN, CMT, NBC, CBS, TBS, Hot Hip & Country, FOX, American Bar Association, Union Pacific Railroad, BMG Records , Curb Records, MCA Records, Promised Land Music, Ducks Unlimited, Remax, and also work with many of Nashville’s biggest stars. VMI now provides much of the programming for Nashville StarVision, Vegas Street Scene and is the parent company of WebGlitzer™.
Directing the music video “Love Hurts” with Gary Morris.
Among many individual paintings spanning his career, MacDonald also has several collections to his credit: L’espirit Libre (2002), RWB (2002), Train To Spain (2003), and Galapagos ( 2003).
Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland. “I’m a private person and don’t usually like people looking over my shoulder.., but this is ok!”
MacDonald holds dear two very special ongoing artistic endeavors: Pasaje Picasso and Voyage Van Gogh. You can read about each by clicking on the name. There are also continuing articles on each as well.
In 2010, MacDonald completed the art film Peace In The Valley that displayed along with the first showing of the Peace In The Valley painting. Other art films include Freedom Against The Night (1981) and The Mystic (1982), and he has shot footage in Europe to be edited on Jim Morrison, Van Gogh, and Michelangelo.
MacDonald has a passion for European art museums and galleries often spending 3 months at a time in Europe. After becoming fluent in Spanish, MacDonald spent a year off and on studying French in Paris.
Wondering the back roads of Auvers-Sur-Oise, France on Voyage Van Gogh May 2002.
What else can an artist do but live the artist’s life and MacDonald has done so by traveling the back roads of Europe hiking on foot for miles, hitching rides, traveling in trains, staying in precarious places including a horse barn in the French outback, frequenting the cafes and of course drinking absinthe. MacDonald says he is definitely not trying to be another Picasso or Van Gogh, or even to be known as an emulator or authority of their works, his “raison d’être” is simply, “They are my talismen.”