Details

First Name

Patsy
Last Name

Mcarthur
Username

patsymcarthur
Website

http://www.patsymcarthur.com
Region

England
Disciplines

Drawing, Painting
Themes

Figurative

Statement

Statement

I make drawings and paintings that explore the fleeting and fragmented nature of experience — the interplay between submission and will, the moving and the fixed, and the figure within its shifting environment. I’m currently in a significant period of transition in my practice. Where I once worked from direct observation or photographic reference, over the last six months I have started working from an internal, emotional space shaped by memory and lived experience.

Recent drawings, collages, and mixed media pieces centre around a recurring female figure — part self-portrait, part invention. She’s born from the wild highs and lows of my youth: the emptiness of lost weekends, dance floor transcendence, and outrageous outfits. I’m exploring the grief in letting go of those earlier selves, but also a ferocious kind of freedom. At the core of this new work is a wild, feminine energy and a refusal to be boxed in.

Drawing remains at the heart of everything I do. The shaky, urgent line feels closest to the truth — the place where memory, emotion, and instinct converge. Above all, I’m compelled by human beings — our inner worlds, emotional lives, and the moments that shape us.

Biography

Biography

Patsy McArthur was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1976 and studied at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen, winning the Royal Scottish Academy John Kinross Travel Scholarship on graduation. She completed a MFA through the Winchester School of Art Barcelona program in 2001 and since then, has spent periods of time living and working in Barcelona, Berlin and Sydney and has undertaken residencies in NYC and Shanghai.

She has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and internationally over the last 20 years, recently at Context during Art Miami and has held recent solo shows with Thompsons Gallery, London and Le Salon Vert in Geneva.

Exhibitions

2024

  • The Mavens, Six Figurative Female Artists, Decorazon Gallery. NYC, USA
  • The Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, RSA, The Mound, Edinburgh
  • SSA Annual Exhibition, RSA, The Mound, Edinburgh
  • Then and Now, Visual Arts Scotland Centenary Exhibition, RSA, The Mound, Edinburgh
  • Caledonian, Thompsons Gallery, London

2023

  • Invigorate Solo Exhibition of new drawings, Thompson’s Gallery, London
  • Forms of Expression, Tatha Gallery, Fife, Scotland

2022

    • The Scottish Exhibition, Thompsons Gallery, Harpenden
    • Society of Women Artists 161st Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
    • Finding The Wonder, Tatha Gallery, Fife, Scotland
    • SSA 130th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland

2021

    • Flux, Solo Show of New Drawings, Thompsons Gallery, London
    • Context, Art Miami, USA represented by Decorazon Gallery
    • Castlegate Prize Finalists Exhibition, Castlegate Gallery, Cumbria, UK

2020

    • Greyscale, Group drawing exhibition, Thompsons Gallery, London
    • Pool Party Group Exhibition, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Oxford
    • Rhythm and Movement – Solo Show, Turner Barnes Gallery, Essex

2019

    • Gallery Artists Mixed Exhibition, Decorazon Gallery, Terminal Warehouse, New York
    • Summer, Autumn and Winter Exhibitions, Cameron Contemporary, Hove

2018

    • Momentum, a solo exhibition of new drawing,  Le Salon Vert, Geneva
    • Reveal Art Fair, Saratoga Springs, New York represented by Decorazon Gallery
    • London Art Fair, represented by Decorazon Gallery

2017

    • Art Palm Springs, represented by Decorazon Gallery
    • Stillness in Motion – Patsy McArthur and Susan Leyland, Osborne Studio Gallery, London
    • London Art Fair, represented by Decorazon Gallery (USA)
    • AAF New York, Stockholm and London, represented by Decorazon Gallery (USA)

2016

    • Patsy McArthur and Rebecca McGlinn, Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Oxford
    • Asia Contemporary, Hong Kong, represented by Decorazon Gallery (USA)
    • AAF New York, London, Stockholm represented by Decorazon Gallery (USA)

2015

    • Otherworld, Solo Exhibition of New Work, The Coningsby Gallery, Fitzrovia, London

2014

    • Patsy McArthur and Ian Hodgson, Naked Eye Gallery, Hove
    • Chelsea Art Fair, represented by Cameron Contemporary, Hove
    • Works on Paper Fair, London Science Museum, represented by Lilford Gallery, Canterbury

2013

    • SWAB International Art Fair, Barcelona, Spain represented by Pantocrator Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

2011

    • Women’s Lines, Pantocrator Gallery, Shanghai, China
    • Figuratively Speaking, Blackheath Gallery, London
    • SWAB International Art Fair represented by Pantocrator Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
    • Paisley Art Institution Annual Exhibition, Paisley Museum, Scotland
    • Visual Arts Scotland Selected Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland

2010

    • Patsy McArthur and Dylan Lisle, Union Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
    • Solo Exhibition of New Work, Flying Colours Gallery, Chelsea, London

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, Islington, London – Patsy McArthur, Sarah Harvey, Oliver Wilson and Kim Yeon

Scholarships & Awards

  • 2011
    • Residency at Pantocrator Gallery, Shanghai, China
  • 2010
    • Residency at NY Studio Gallery, Manhattan, New York City
  • 2002
    • The Paisley Art Institute Award
    • £2000 1st Prize Bank of Scotland Open Art Competition, Arbroath
    • 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
    • Grampian Hospitals Purchase Prize

Work in Collections

  • The Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • The Walter Scott Collection, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • The Malcolm Group, Scotland
  • The Elphinstone Group, Glasgow, Scotland
  • The Scarlet Hotel, Cornwall, England
  • Private Collections in the UK, France, Holland, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, Italy, Spain and the US.