The work of Ronald Forbes forms a narrative around the way we see and understand the world. It is about illusion, belief and reality – and the fuzzy edges between these.
There have been more than thirty-seven solo exhibitions of his work around the world.
Ronald Forbes is an artist who is primarily a painter, but who has also made films throughout his career. He was highly engaged in higher art education, closing that part of his career as Head of Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, the University of Dundee. He has also undertaken many artist-in-residence posts nationally and internationally. He is an academician of the RSA,an elected member of the RGI and a Professional Member of the Society of Scottish Artists.
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, USA, Poland and Australia. He has received many prizes, including the Guthrie Medal from the Royal Scottish Academy, prizes and nominations in various international film festivals and awards from bodies such as the Leverhulme Trust,the Carnegie Trust, the Scottish Arts Council and the Hope-Scott Trust.
Scottish Arts Council Touring Exhibition
Forbes/Robb
1979 Aberdeen Art Gallery
1978 Fruit Market Gallery, Edinburgh
1978 Collins Gallery, Glasgow
1978 Arts Council Gallery, Belfast
Netherlands Touring Exhibition
British Council/Culturele Raad Limburg
Forbes/Nelson/Shaw
1983 Netherlands and Belgium
Hoensbruck, Roermond, Maastricht and Liege
“Nature: Only and Idea”
Forbes, Hardy and Jannel
2002 Galerie Trace, Maastricht, Netherlands
“Parallel Paths” Doug Cocker and Ronald Forbes
2006 Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
Selected Group Exhibitions
2018 “Allusions, 111” Fidra Fine Art, Gullane (November 2018)
2017 “Allusions,11” Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay
2015 “Allusions” RGI Kelly Gallery, Glasgow
2015 “The Newport Circle,“ Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay
2015 Invited artist “Realised”, RSA Annual, Edinburgh
2015 The Pentland Gallery inaugural exhibition, Aberdeen
2014 “Lifecycles,” Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay.
2014 “RSA: Focus on Film” RSA Annual, Edinburgh
2010 Invited artist, “Art and Social Engagement,” RSA Annual, Edinburgh
2001 ”4thAustralian Artist Book Fair, Brisbane
2001 “Four by Four” Artists’ Books at Fine Art Gallery, University of Tasmania
2000 “Spool: An Exhibition of Prints by Scottish Artists” Manhattan Graphics Center, New York, USA
2000 “Scottish Painters at the Fosse Gallery”, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham
2000 “Expressions: Scottish Art Since 1945, McManus Galleries, Dundee
2000 “Connections 2000” Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
1999 “Connections” Royal Scottish Academy Festival Exhibition, Edinburgh
1999 “Small Paintings” Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
1999 “RSA Painter Members”, Albemarle Gallery, London
1999 “Recent Acquisitions”, Perth Art Galleries and Museum, Perth
1999 “France and Six Nations. L’Art Actuel”,. Tokyo, Japan and touring
1999 “Artists 95”, website exhibition organised by Axis
1999 Morrison Portrait Competition Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
1998,1999, 2000 Glasgow Group Exhibition (invited artist) Kelly Gallery, Glasgow
1998 Royal Scottish Academy, Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
1998 Recent acquisitions from the Scottish Arts Council Collection, Smith Stirling Art Gallery, Stirling
1998 Noble-Grossart Painting Competition, Edinburgh and Glasgow
1998 Holland Art Fair, The Hague, Netherlands
1998 “New Works by Members” Festival Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
1998 “Metamorphosis” Seagate Gallery, Dundee
1998 “Absolute Secret” Postcard Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London
1998 "Small Paintings” Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
1997-1998 “Rastava Sodobne Skotskf Grafike” Exhibition of Scottish Prints, touring museums and galleries in Slovenia
1997 “Reunion” de Keerder Kunstkamer, Cadier en Keer, Netherlands
1997 “Figure This”, McManus Art Galleries, Dundee
1997 “An Alphabet of Artists”, Perth Museum and Art Gallery
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999/2000 Nobel Grossart Painting Competition, RSA, Edinburgh and Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow
1996 Exhibition of Small Works, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Festival
1996 Dave Thomas project, Expanded Field - 500 Sites, Melbourne, Australia
1996 “Small Works”, Roger Bilcliffe Fine Art, Glasgow
1996 “Postcards”, Roger Bilcliffe Fine Art, Glasgow
1995 Inaugural Exhibition, New Foyer Gallery, University of Abertay, Dundee
1995 “Uprising”, The Meffan Gallery, Forfar
1995 “Contemporary Scottish Art: 15 Years of Collecting”, The McManus Galleries, Dundee
1994 and 1995 “Celtic Connections Exhibition” The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall,
1994 “World SHO and European Artists Exhibition”, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Centre, and Kyobun Civic Gallery, Kawasaki, Japan
1994 “Outpost”, Edinburgh Festival
1994 “Groot in ’T Kleine”, De Keerder Kunstkamer, Limburg, the Netherlands
1994 “Beuys in Scotland”, Demarco European Art Foundation, Edinburgh Festival,
1993-94 “Witnesses of Existence”, Kingston University, England; Demarco Foundation, Edinburgh; Obala Gallery, Sarajevo, Bosnia
1993 “Alive and Printing”, 21 years of Glasgow Print Studio, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
1991 “Man in the Universe”, Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh
1991 “International Exhibition”, Central Museum, Ginza, Tokyo
1990 “The Compass Contribution” 21 years of Contemporary Art, Tramway, Glasgow
1990 “RSA Guthrie Award Winners 1920-1990”, The Fine Art Society, Glasgow/Edinburgh
1988 “Works on Paper”, Contemporary Scottish Art Touring Netherlands and Belgium
1988 “The Garden”, Fine Art Society, Glasgow
1987 “Scotch in the Apple” Contemporary Scottish Art, Lincoln Centre, New York
1985 “Unique and Original” Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow
1985 “Exposition International de Peinture”, Paris
1975 “Living Art Exhibition”, Dublin
1975 “Fact and Fantasy”, Scottish Arts Council Tour
1975 “Different Realists”, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
1974 STV Gateway Exhibition, Edinburgh Festival
1973 and 1984 Glasgow Group Exhibition Invited Artist, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
1973 and 1974 'Original Print', Edinburgh
1971 '20 x 57' Edinburgh Festival Exhibition
1967-71 'Scottish Young Contemporaries
Exhibited in many Glasgow League of Artists exhibitions 1971– 80
Exhibited in Royal Scottish Academy, Society of Scottish Artists, Royal Glasgow Insititute and Aberdeen Artists annual exhibitions frequently from 1970 - present
Prizes and Awards
2014 Dundee Visual Artists Award Scheme award
2012 Award of Merit for Joking Apart, Lucerne International Film Festival
2009 Publication award, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
2009 Dundee Visual Artists Award Scheme award
2006 Leverhulme Artist in Residence Award at SCRI
2002 Publication award, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland
2001 Shortlisted for Rootstein-Hopkins Major Sabbatical Award
1999 Sir William Gillies Bequest Award, Royal Scottish Academy
1996 Highland Society of London Award, Royal Scottish Academy
1994 Commendation, Aberdeen Artists Exhibition
1990 Hope Scott Trust Award
1980 S.A.C. Amsterdam Studio Award
1979 Scottish Arts Council Award for Film-making
1979 R.S.A. Guthrie Award, Royal Scottish Academy
1975 Prize for film, “Between Dreams” in BBC “Scope” Film Competition
1968 Prize in Scottish Young Contemporaries Exhibition
1967 1st prize in first Scottish Young Contemporaries Exhibition
1964-69 Numerous awards and prizes at Edinburgh College of Art
