Ronald Forbes (artist)

Ronald Forbes RSA, RGI (born 1947 in Braco, Perthshire, Scotland) is an artist who is primarily a painter but who has also made films throughout his career.

Forbes studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1964–1968, and was awarded an S.E.D postgraduate scholarship there from 1968–1969.

After periods between 1969 and 1973 when he taught in the secondary and further education sectors, Forbes moved into teaching posts in art schools.

He later studied education at Jordanhill College, Glasgow, from 1970–71.

He has also been founder and organiser of artists groups including the Glasgow League of Artists in 1971.

2023 “The Everyman Variations,” The Academicians’ Gallery, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

2021 “The Dreamweaver’s Puzzles,” Festival Exhibition Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh

Throughout his career, Forbes has fulfilled a number of artist residencies in Scotland, The Netherlands and Australia, including the Leverhulme Senior Art Fellowship at the University of Strathclyde, 1973–74, Artist in Residence in Livingston New Town, 1978–80, the Scottish Arts Council Amsterdam Studio Award 1980, Artist in Residence at the University of Tasmania Art School, Hobart, Australia in 1995, and the Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (now the James Hutton Institute) 2006–08.

He was Head of Painting in both Crawford School of Art, Cork (1974–78) and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee (1995–2001), where he also established and directed the Masters Course in Public Art and Design and the MFA Course from 1983–1995.

He was a lecturer at Glasgow School of Art (1979–2003), and is Honorary Visiting Professor of Fine Art at the University of Abertay, Dundee, (2003–present).

He has also served on the boards of a range of trusts and arts charities including Hospitalfield Arts, Perthshire Public Arts Trust, Dundee Public Art Programme, Workshop and Artist Studio Provision Scotland (WASPS) and the Glasgow League of Artists.

1995 Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

He is an academician of the Royal Scottish Academy (elected Associate, 1996, Academician, 2005), was elected a Professional Member of the Society of Scottish Artists in 1971 and a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in 2013.

1996 NS Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland

1997 De Keerder Kunstkamer, Cadier en Keer, Netherlands

1999 Southern Illinois University Museum, Carbondale, USA

1999 Sonia Zaks Gallery, Chicago, USA

2000 Royal Over-Seas League Gallery, London, England

2001 Vardy Gallery, Sunderland, England

2001 Royal Over-Seas League Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

2001 Fine Art Gallery, University of Tasmania, Australia

2003 Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, Scotland

Dr Peter Hill noted in his essay in "Ronald Forbes: (mind)games", 2005 that Forbes is regarded as one of Scotland’s leading figurative painters, while Dr Carol Gow, writing in Cencrastus issue 36, 1990, noted that Forbes prefers the term "imagist" rather than "figurative."

Dennis Adrian, Chicago historian, critic and collector, wrote in Riddles and Puzzles: Paintings by Ronald Forbes,

There have been solo, group and curated exhibitions of Forbes’s work in Scotland, England, Ireland, USA, Australia, Japan, France and the Netherlands.

His paintings are held in a range of public collections in the UK, Ireland, the USA, Poland and Australia.

He has received many prizes, including the Guthrie Medal from the Royal Scottish Academy, and awards from bodies such as the Leverhulme Trust, the Carnegie Trust, the Scottish Arts Council and the Hope-Scott Trust.

His films have been shown in many exhibitions and have been part of the official selection for film festivals including Glasgow Short Film Festival, Abstracta Film Festival, Rome, Italy Lucerne International Film Festival, Switzerland and Skepto Film Festival, Cagliari, Italy.

2005 Hannah Maclure Centre, University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland

2005 Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, Scotland

2007 Hamnavoe Gallery, Aberdeen, Scotland

2008 Scottish Art Club, Edinburgh, Scotland

2009 Hannah Maclure Centre, University of Abertay, Dundee, Scotland

2009 Edinburgh International Science Festival, CAC, Edinburgh, Scotland

2010 Collins Gallery, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland

2010 John Hope Gateway Centre, Botanics, Edinburgh, Scotland

2011 Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Perth, Scotland

Forbes’s art reflects the complex visual languages of modern life while referencing mythology and art history, and, as Dr Tom Normand wrote in "Portfolio: Treasures from the Diploma Collection of the Royal Scottish Academy", 2013, "his work has explored a philosophical discourse that speculates on the nature of reality."

Forbes has been curator of a number of exhibitions such as ‘Focus on Film’ at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland in 2014 and the Celtic Connections Festival Visual Art Exhibition, Glasgow, Scotland in 1994 and 1995.

2018 “Inside Out” Studio Pavilion Gallery, The House for an Art Lover, Glasgow