On the occasion of her exhibition Chronochromia opening at Glasgow’s The Briggait, we spoke with Lynsey MacKenzie about her studio practice, what advice she’d give to aspiring artists, and what books or music she’s drawn to lately.
Lynsey, who is also a Wasps tenant, was given the opportunity to exhibit at The Briggait after winning the 2021 Royal Scottish Academy x Wasps Award in February last year. Wasps’ selectors were drawn to Lynsey’s play with scale in her paintings, and chose her for her experimental processes with a traditional medium.
Lynsey MacKenzie presents a body of new paintings for Chronochromia which explore ideas of time, repetition and memory through shifting planes of colour, gesture, and scale. Engaging with the materiality and physicality of paintings as objects, she works intuitively, driven by colour and composition. Feelings of spaces in flux permeate the work, at once moving and static. The labour time contained within the paintings unfolds upon viewing, encouraging pause, and a slowing down of our increasingly hyperactive contemporary gaze.
From Lynsey: I’m delighted to be presenting a new body of work for Chronochromia as a result of receiving the RSA Wasps Award. In the works, I am interested in the play between paintings as surfaces and as spaces, exploring memories and working intuitively.
Glasgow-based writer Sara O’Brien has been commissioned by Wasps to write a piece about Chronochromia and Lynsey’s practice. The text will be available for visitors to pick up at the exhibition and to read online from Thursday 18 August.
Don’t miss Chronochromia at The Briggait; opening hours are Thursday 11 August–Friday 2 September, 9:30am–5:30pm or by appointment. You can also see Lynsey’s work as part of the Platform: 2022 group show at Edinburgh Art Festival until Sunday 28 August at the French Institute for Scotland, West Parliament Square.
Lynsey MacKenzie lives and works in Glasgow and graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2019 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art: Painting and Printmaking. Recent exhibitions include Platform: 2022, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh (2022), UNMUTE, Society of Scottish Artists, Dunoon (2022), Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Online (2022); REVERB, Visual Arts Scotland, Online (2022); Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2021); RE:CONNECT, Society of Scottish Artists, Online (2021); Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Online (2021); Interactions of Colour, Royal Glasgow Institute, Online (2021); New Contemporaries, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2020); and HERE AND NOW, SaltSpace Gallery, Glasgow (2020). Recent awards include the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Award, the RSA Latimer Award, and the RSA x Wasps Award.
