Artist: Patsy McArthur

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I aim to create evocative, figurative images with a psychological and emotional impact. Generally, my images deal with figures in motion or transition and allude to movement through psychological states. The models are themselves unimportant and lack any individuality. I use repetition as a tool and by using the same figure more than once in an image, it helps to remove the work from realism, and a single image becomes a site for multiple versions of self, or transitional human states.
I use the male figure only in my work and each figure is a template and a vehicle for human emotion. The characters are placed in fictional spaces, wearing utilitarian clothing or male uniform which denies them any form of self expression. By including only male characters in the work, which bear no relation to my own physical presence, I create a distance and it becomes easier to open the work up to dealing with broader human emotions rather than being self referential.
The work is generally monochrome or very limited palette and this serves to strip the image down, without colour to seduce, it focuses one on the content.

CV

EXHIBITIONS

2010
Patsy McArthur and Dylan Lisle, Union Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Solo Exhibition of New Work, Flying Colours Gallery, Chelsea, London
Upcoming - Pantocrator Gallery, Mitte, Berlin, Germany

2009
International Residency Program Exhibition, NY Studio Gallery, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York
El Mur, International Public Art Projection, Lleida, Spain
The Figure: Figurative Group Exhibition, Blackheath Gallery, London
New Faces Revisited, Leith Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

2008
British Art Fair 20-21, Islington, London represented by Flying Colours Gallery,
London
Art London, Chelsea, London represented by Flying Colours Gallery, London
Liquid Light: Underwater Aesthetics, Sesame Gallery, Isington, London - Patsy McArthur, Sarah Harvey, Oliver Wilson and Kim Yeon

2007
Solo Exhibition of New Work, Flying Colours Gallery, Chelsea, London
British Art Fair 20-21, Islington, London represented by Flying Colours Gallery,
London
Affordable Art Fair, New York, represented by Flying Colours Gallery, London
Art London, Chelsea, London, represented by Flying Colours Gallery, London
Glasgow Art Fair, Glasgow represented by scotlandart.com, Glasgow

2006
New Work by Patsy McArthur and Stuart Buchanan, Nick Hagen Fine Art, London
The Executive, Two Woman Show, Tallantyre Gallery, Northumberland
Dublin Art Fair represented by Tallntyre Gallery, Northumberland
Edinburgh Art Fair represented by Tallantyre Gallery, Northumberland
Glasgow Art Fair represented by scotlandart.com, Glasgow

2005
The Figure, Nick Hagen Fine Art, Upper Richmond Road, London
Changing Formations, Patsy McArthur and Peter Goodfellow, The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
The Scottish Drawing Competition, Paisley Art Galleries, Scotland
Art On Paper Fair, Kensington, London represented by scotlandart.com

2004
Figures of Eight, The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh
New Scottish Figurative Painting, The Fotheringham Gallery, Bridge of Allan
Autumn Exhibition, Blackheath Gallery, London
The Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition
The London Art Fair, Islington represented by The Compass Gallery

2003
Autumn Exhibition, Blackheath Gallery, London
Glasgow Art Fair represented by scotlandart.com
Christmas Exhibitions with The Compass Gallery, Glasgow, Arteries, Glasgow and
The Fotheringham Gallery, Bridge of Allan

2002
Three Man Show, The Fotheringham Gallery, Bridge of Allan, Scotland
Urban Insight, Two Man Show with Louis Sinclair McNally, The Leith Gallery,
Edinburgh
Bank of Scotland Open Art Competition, Arbroath
The Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition

SCOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS
2010 Residency at NY Studio Gallery, Manhattan, New York
2002 The Paisley Art Institute Award
2002 £2000 1st Prize Bank of Scotland Open Art Competition, Arbroath
2002 Visitors Award, North Ayrshire Open Art Competition
1998 Royal Scottish Academy John Kinross Scholarship Travel Scholarship – to spend time living and               working in Florence, Italy
1998 Grampian Hospitals Purchase Prize

COLLECTIONS
The Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland
Agenda Hotel, Edinburgh, Scotland
BMK Wilson Solicitors, Glasgow, Scotland
The Elphinstone Group, Glasgow, Scotland
Private Collections in UK, France, Australia, Italy, Spain and the US

PUBLICATIONS
2011 Lifelines, The Hearld Magazine
2008 Picture House, The Herald Magazine
2008 Arena Magazine, “Beautifully crafted works perfectly in touch with 21st century Britain”
2006 Scottish Art A Picture of Health For Investors, The Herald
2005 The Property Magazine, The Sunday Herald
2004 Top 20 of Scottish Art, The Scotsman

EDUCATION
1994-1998 Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen – BA(Hons) Fine Art
2000-2001 Winchester School of Art, Barcelona, Spain – MA European Fine Art