Frontiers: Painting in Scotland Now

2024

RSA Lower Galleries | Royal Scottish Academy | The Mound | Edinburgh | EH2 2EL

3rd August – 8th September 2024

This summer the Royal Scottish Academy will present Frontiers, an exhibition considering the place of painting in contemporary Scottish art.

Co-curated by Robbie Bushe RSA and Flora La Thangue, Frontiers: Painting in Scotland Now will explore the ways in which artists are pushing the boundaries of the medium of painting and reveal it to be a vital connection between the traditions of the past and ambitions for the future of the visual arts in Scotland.

In the early 1980s many UK arts schools and art departments at universities had combined specialist departments in painting, sculpture and printmaking. This reflected both the changing language of contemporary art practices and the need to rationalise resources and develop a more quantifiable research culture within the arts. In Scotland, this took a little longer as the distinct identities and legacies of the four historic art schools in Scotland endured. Given this, and the rise of digital media in the visual arts, it is perhaps surprising that painting remains enduringly popular today and emerging artists continue to be drawn to the medium.

Frontiers will explore why, in a world saturated with digital imagery, painting continues to flourish. The exhibition will place works by Royal Scottish Academicians alongside other established practitioners and emerging artists, posing the question: what place remains for painting? Are there new frontiers for painting in Scotland?

Exhibition co-curator, Robbie Bushe RSA says:
“Scotland's cultural history is intertwined with painting, shaped by both inward and outward concerns. For over a century, the four historic Scottish art schools had distinctive and dedicated painting departments. The changing language of contemporary art made painting just one of a plethora of choices for art students to express ideas visually, breaking down departmental barriers. I certainly witnessed a period where the teaching of painting was taken for granted and tired, students were encouraged to explore the possibilities of emerging media and shifting paradigms – and quite right.

“Despite this, the 1990s and 2000s saw under-taught contemporary champions painting under the radar. Painting became a subversive underground activity; students and recent graduates had a sense of rebellion and intuitive imagination, unencumbered by its traditions or history, as if at a new frontier, actively embracing new and old media.

“Through the 2010s and 2020s a new generation of Scottish painters emerged. Many are recent graduates who first showcased at RSA New Contemporaries, but some are reemerging and reinvigorated established artists and teachers. Frontiers will reveal their story.”

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