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Species Morphology: A Living Archive | A Solo Exhibition by Stuart Mackenzie RSA

Stuart Mackenzie - Species Morphology: A Living Archive

In association with the 200th Anniversary of the Royal Scottish Academy         

Friday 23 January to Sunday 17 May 2026 

"Coming from a background of land workers, gamekeepers, trappers and miners originating in the Scottish Highlands and Northern Ireland I have always been fascinated by the land and the people who live and work there and the precious Flora and Fauna that inhabit the landscape and the water.  My Mother kept drawings in notebooks that I made as a young child which I still treasure."

"As my work progressed, I gradually became more focused on landscape, and the phenomenon of the land, making large- and small-scale paintings based on site specific locations.  Nan Shepherd's book 'The Living Mountain' was and still is hugely inspirational.  Over the past ten years my work has become more directly focused and engaged with the extraordinary diversity of Flora and Fauna in Scotland and further afield.  The work is also inspired and informed by the iconic Polymath Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, who's ground breaking book 'On Growth and Form' has been a huge influence on many influential artists and scientists since it was first published in 1917."

Species Morphology: A Living Archive is my first solo exhibition since my RSA solo exhibition in 2019 and is now part of the RSA 200 - year Anniversary celebrations.  The term Species Morphology relates to the ecological and biological investigation of phenomena that exists in nature.  It encompasses observable characteristics, both external and internal, things that distinguish one species from another, aspects like size, form, colour, structure, mass, shape and pattern.  I then consider how these morphological, transformative and observational characteristics in nature, relate closely to the mercurial, visceral and alchemical properties imbedded in the processes of drawing, painting and printmaking."

Stuart Mackenzie RSA

Image: Cockerel - Homage to Joseph Crawhall

RSA 200 logo - Celebrating Together



Virtual tour of the exhibition - Coming February 2026

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