Painter, born and based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, who graduated with honours from Ulster College of Art, 1976–81, studying with Alastair MacLennan, eventually having a studio in Lisburn, County Antrim. He was a founder-member of the Artists’ Collective of Northern Ireland and of Queen Street Studios, was an associate member of RUA from 1989 and a board member of Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast. McGookin painted on three-dimensional forms, from 1990 using fragments of timber found during a sojourn at Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig, Ireland’s premier artists’ retreat. McGookin’s subjects embraced symbolism and iconography of both local and international ethnic or religious groups. The Distant Woodworks, Inside the Kerbstones and Outside the Labyrinth were key works from the 1990s.