About
Ruby Mackenzie is a contemporary Australian artist from Melbourne, Australia.
Ruby Mackenzie has completed a range of commissioned artworks for clients, including for corporate boardrooms, residential developments and public hospitals. Ruby has an ability to work with different preferences and supports clients to give their concept a voice through her art. Examples of commissioned works can be viewed here.
Ruby is available to consider requests for commissions and can be contacted here to discuss further.
“It was a pleasure working with Ruby. She took the time to understand the design brief of the building, ensuring the work reflected the architects thinking. She ultimately delivered us a stunning work.” Theo Krambias, Ikos - Hawthorn
Ruby was born in Newcastle, NSW in 1964. She studied Fine Arts at Newcastle Technical College. After completing her training, Ruby worked and travelled between Sydney and the NSW North Coast, exhibiting and selling paintings.
Ruby moved to Victoria in 1992 living between Melbourne, the Mornington Pensinsula and South Gippsland. She was awarded 1st prize at the Westernport Art Show in 1995.
In 1998 Ruby moved to Byron Bay and began exhibiting and selling paintings at Waywood Gallery, Byron Bay.
Ruby returned to the Mornington Peninsula in 2001, exhibiting in a group show at Oak Hill Gallery, Mornington in 2002.
In 2003, Ruby was part of a two person show at Brightspace, St.Kilda called Two Up. This exhibition saw Ruby’s art shift from traditional landscape to abstract interpretations of her environment.
In 2004, Ruby put on her first solo exhibition Genesis at Hogan Gallery, Collingwood, a series of paintings based on interpretations of the Biblical text. She was also invited to participate at Wiregrass Gallery, Eltham in a group exhibition following the trail of the Heidelberg School of Artists.
In 2005 Ruby moved to the Aboriginal community of Jarlmadangah in the West Kimberley. She was awarded the Kimberley Art Prize (Oils & Acrylics Section) for her entry Grant Range Sunset and was exhibiting and selling paintings at Broome Gallery, Broome. She was also employed as an Arts Officer at the local Women’s Centre (Jarndu Jaurdu Warnngara), assisting Aboriginal women in the community develop an arts industry.
Ruby’s second solo exhibition Kimberley Works, at Jeffery Malesa Gallery, Sorrento in 2006 was the culmination of her year in north-west Western Australia, drawing on the inspiration of the country surrounding the Fitzroy River.
Ruby moved to the Anmatyerr community of Ti Tree, north of Alice Springs, in 2006 where she painted amidst the arid environment of the Central Desert. She was commissioned to paint an interpretation of Uluru, which she titled Rock of Ages.
In 2007 Ruby returned to Melbourne and put on a 10 year retrospective, at Hogan Gallery, Collingwood titled In Retrospect. This showcased a diverse range of responses to the different landscapes she had lived in across Australia.
In 2008 Ruby produced her first solo exhibition at Brightspace, St.Kilda. The Birds and The Trees was her response to settling in the inner suburbs of Melbourne and the search for remnant natural spaces within an urban environment.
Successive exhibitions at Brightspace in 2009 Werribee Wetlands and 2011 Co-Existence continued to build on the existential place of nature against an ever encroaching built environment.
Between 2009 and 2011 Ruby undertook 3 years of study in contemporary arts practice under the tuition of Robert Mangion at Footscray Community Arts Centre. The studies culminated in two group exhibitions at Trocadero Gallery and Roslyn Smorgon Gallery in Footscray.
Ruby has completed a number of commercial commissions, including for boardrooms, residential developments and the Gosford Hospital upgrade.
Ruby has been a donating artist to the Artists for Kids Culture Trust Annual Art Auction since 2009, and supports endeavours that take arts to marginalised communities.
Ruby's most recent solo exhibition of paintings Limina was on at Brightspace, St.Kilda in April 2014.
Ruby was shortlisted for the inaugural Noosa Art Prize for her entry, Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory in August 2014.