PATSY McARTHUR
Figures in motion
“​ Through drawing and painting, I have long been interested in making imagery associated with the figure in motion: leaping, soaring, flying, falling, and the associated emotions that these types of images can trigger in the viewer. In much of my work, I am concerned with making images that convey a sense of power and energy or potential energy and allude to movement through psychological states. Drawing has been at the forefront of my practice since my student days and continues to play a crucial role. I enjoy its directness and find that monochrome work serves to strip the image down focusing on the subject. Where colour is used, I often use an intense but very limited palette to build emotion and drama. Ultimately, my work is about the fragmented and fleeting nature of experience. The interplay between submission and will, the moving and the fixed, and the figure and its environment hint at the absurdity of narratives in a constantly changing world. ”​
Patsy McArthur studied painting in Aberdeen in the North East of Scotland at Gray's School of Art in the late 90s and gained a Masters in European Fine Art from the Winchester School of Art Barcelona program in 2001. Since then she has spent periods of time living and working in Barcelona, Berlin and Sydney and has undertaken residencies in NYC, Italy and Shanghai.
Patsy has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and abroad, recently exhibiting at Context fair during Art Miami, and has held recent solo shows with Thompsons Gallery in London and Le Salon Vert in Geneva. She was a shortlisted finalist of the inaugural Castlegate Prize last year and this year was selected for both the RSA Annual and the SSA Annual shows at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.
