Helen Flockhart
Helen Flockhart is among the most notable surrealist artists in Scotland today, particularly known for her evocative 'dream pictures' that blur the boundaries between imagination and reality. Her highly stylised paintings function as visual narratives, rich with symbolic precision and mythic resonance. With an international exhibition history spanning over four decades, Flockhart’s work continues to captivate a wide audience.
Her paintings unfold as contemplative, initiatory spaces where meaning is layered and time appears to fold inward. In an overstimulated world, this is slow, deliberate art, inviting sustained attention and reflection. Often, solitary figures appear in communion with animals amidst lush, meticulously rendered flora, transformed into scenes that feel ancient, luminous, and otherworldly. Her visual narrative has been described like “a time-travelling botanist crossed with a medieval miniaturist,”.
Flockhart draws influence from a wide range of sources, historical and contemporary alike. Pre-Islamic cherubs, medieval iconography, and the cinematic surrealism of David Lynch all inform her visual language.
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Panacea£6,250.00 -
Cat on a Lap£8,250.00
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Hygeia£8,250.00
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Paean£8,250.00
Born - Scotland 1963
ART EDUCATION
1980-85 Studied painting at Glasgow School of Art
1985-86 Studied painting at the State Higher School of Fine Art in Poznan, Poland
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Arusha Gallery, London, "In Elysian Fields"
2020 Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, "Beasts"
2018-19 Linlithgow Burgh Halls, "Linger Awhile"
2017-18 Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, "In the morning it is green" and "Linger Awhile"
2013 Compass Gallery, Glasgow, "Swan Like"
2001-15 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, Various exhibitions
2000 Glasgow Art Club, Glasgow
1999 Compass Gallery, Glasgow
1997 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London "Flock"
1995 Compass Gallery, Glasgow "Sweetness and Darkness"
1993 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London "Base weed in bloom"
1991 Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews
1991 Ash Gallery, Edinburgh "A Scottish Siren"
1990 Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
1986 Galeria A.T., Poznan, Poland
SELECTED GROUP AND JOINT EXHIBITIONS
2025 Anatomia Humana II, Artsy
2025 Hampstead Art Society Summer Exhibition, Gallery 8, London
2025 Strange Magic, Andelli Art, Wells, Somerset
2025 Reverb, Florence Trust, London
2025 Royal Scottish Academy 199th Annual Exhbition, Edinburgh
2025 Elected RGIs in the RGI John D Kelly Gallery, Glasgow
2024 Frontiers: Painting in Scotland Now, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
2024 Magic Mirror, Wilhelmina's, Hydra, Greece
2024 Art Athina, Athens, Greece
2024 The Three Graces, Unit London, London
2024 Royal Scottish Academy 198th Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
2023 Scottish Women Artists: 250 Years, Dovecot Studios and Gallery
2023 Eye of the Collector, Two Temple Place, London with Arusha Gallery
2023 Hawthorn and the Feast of Julian, High Line Nine Gallery, New York with Arusha Gallery
2022 I Take What Is Mine, High Line Nine Gallery, New York with Arusha Gallery
2022 Masterpiece Art Fair, London with Arusha Gallery
2022 RSA Annual Exhibition
2021 Bearded with Moss, Arusha Gallery, London
2021 Cruel Intentions, Arusha Gallery, London
2020 21st Century Women, Backdoor Gallery, Glasgow
2019 Allusion IV, RGI Kelly Gallery, Glasgow
2018 Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2017 INK: Public Archive - Five Decades of Printmaking at Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow Print Studio
2017 Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition, The Mitchell, Glasgow
2016 Discerning Eye Triforium Exhibition, The Temple Church, London
2016 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2016 "The Scottish Endarkenment": Art and Unreason - 1945 to the present, Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh
2016 Paisley Art Institute 128th Annual Exhibition, Paisley Art Gallery and Museum
2016 "Women's Work: Artists in the collection of Terri Lipman", Gallery of Northumberland, Cobourg, Ontario, Canada
2016 W Gordon Smith Award Exhibition, Dovecot Gallery, Edinburgh
2016 Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition, The Mitchell, Glasgow
2014 Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2014
2014 "Strut: The Peacock in Beauty and Art", Hudson River Museum, New York
2013 Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2013
2013 Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition 2013, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
2013 "An Intimate Relationship: Women Artists in the Collection of Terri Lipman", Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
2013 "At Land", Market Gallery, Glasgow
2012 Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition 2012
2012 Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition, Glasgow, The Mitchell
2012 "Londinium - a London Pageant", Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2011 Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition, Glasgow, The Mitchell, Glasgow
2010 "Spectators”, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2009 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, invited artist
2009 "Inspired" - Scottish Art from the Fleming Collection, London
2008 Helen Flockhart, Peter Thomson and Heather Nevay, Mansfield Park Gallery, Glasgow
2008 "The Glasgow School of Painting", Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, Cornwall
2006 "Divided Selves" - the Scottish self portrait from 17th Century to the present day, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh and Fleming Collection, London
2006 "The Discerning Eye", Mall Galleries, London, invited artist
2002 Helen Flockhart and Peter Thomson, Cricket Hill Gallery, New York
1999 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh, invited artist.
1997 Royal Glasgow Institute Annual Exhibition, Glasgow, MLlellan Galleries,
1997 Royal Overseas League 14th Annual Open Exhibition, Edinburgh
1993 " Through Women's Eyes", City Arts Centre, Edinburgh
1993 "Reflections", exhibition by the Spectator, Mall Galleries, London
1991 Helen Flockhart and Amitae Ben David, Galerie Het Veem, Rotterdam
1989 Helen Flockhart and Kay Maclean, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
AWARDS
2025 Rosemary & Co Brushes Prize, Hampstead Art Society Summer Exhibition, London
2021 Elected RSA
2016 Concept Fine Art Award, Paisley Art Institute
2014 Elected RGI
2012 Royal Scottish Academy Maude Gemmell Hutchinson Prize
2012 Lyon and Turnbull Award, Royal Glasgow Institute
2006 Humphreys Prize, Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2000 First prize, Noble Grossart/Scotland on Sunday painting competition
1997 Armour Award, Royal Glasgow Institute
1997 Fellowship of Glasgow Art Club
1997 Royal Overseas League Award for an artist living and working in Scotland
1996 Purchase prize, Smith Art Gallery and Museum Stirling for their Brave Art exhibition
1992 Grant from the Pollok-Krasner Foundation, New York
1992 Second prize, Inverclyde Biennial, Maclean Museum and Art Gallery, Greenock
1991 Scottish Arts Council assistance grant
1989 Scottish Arts Council Bursary
1984 Emmy Sachs Prize for Drawing
COLLECTIONS
Glasgow Museums, Fleming Collection, London, Scottish Arts Council, City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, Dick Institute, Kilmarnock, Smith Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Aberdeen Asset Management, The Lillie Collection