Painter and filmmaker, Ronnie Forbes, was delighted to visit The James Hutton Institute to view his painting, Et in Arcadia Ego, in the new Crop Innovation Centre, home to the Advanced Plant Growth Centre and the International Barley Hub, which opened last year as part of a £62million investment through the Tay Cities Region Deal (TRCD) a partnership between local, Scottish and UK governments and the private, academic and voluntary sectors.
Ronnie was Leverhume Trust’s artist in residence at the Hutton between 2007 and 2009, part of a scheme that saw artists working alongside scientists and academics across the UK. Before moving to its new home, his painting hung in the Hutton’s library, along with small digital collage art prints created during that time.
He said: “This is a magnificent space. I am very pleased to see one of the larger pieces I produced here shown so well. It is appropriate and meaningful to have it here and means a lot to me.”
The work is based on a painting by Poussin of the same name and reminds us that in life we are always surrounded by death. The figures are posed in the same way, but this time they are wearing white coats to symbolise the scientists who work at the Hutton and are encircled by images of the Carse of Gowrie and seeds of the ubiquitous plant, shepherd’s purse. It allows viewers to see through one world into another.
Chief executive, Colin Campbell, is thrilled to have the painting displayed so prominently. He said, “This is an open science campus, so we want the public to come in to have a coffee, see the art and be inspired by it and the science.”
Ronnie’s paintings are held in public collections in the UK, Ireland, USA, Poland and Australia as well as in private collection throughout the world. He has had around 50 solo exhibitions, and two and three person shows.