Rory Donaldson was born in Scotland in 1965. Educated in his native country at the Grays School of Art (Aberdeen, 1982–1986) and in Ireland at the University of Ulster (Belfast, 1997–1998), he later moved to New York to follow the Whitney Museum Independent Study Programme (1997–1998).
Donaldson’s particular approach to trans-media art (specifically blurring the boundary between photography and painting) consists in adapting his process to the theoretical underpinning of his project, resulting in multimedia creations that mix a high technical ability with a subtle symbolic reasoning. His SQCITY series, for example, focuses on spatial intersections and crossroads such as doors and other forms of frames. The sense of physical and contextual change inherent to these themes is conveyed by mixing photography and painting so as to suggest volume, passage and directional choice. The RDX series, on the other hand, meshes architectonic layout and digital glitches to reconfigure urban settings and vistas. Through this process, a car park could become a drifting iceberg, or vice-versa.

In addition to these particular hybrid works, Donaldson produces sculptures, installations and wall-based works featuring techniques and materials as varied as embroidery, found postcards and drawing. Not only does he play on techniques and materials, he also plays on scales by blowing up sections into their own self-sufficient image. By doing this, he explores misrepresentation, disinformation and censorship, and any other form of image (content) manipulation.
Recent exhibitions include Industrial Aesthetics: Environmental Influences on Recent Art from Scotland at the Hunter College Time Square Gallery in New York and Chinese Take Out at Art in General, New York.
In 2008, Donald received the 2008 Morton Award (given for innovative work in the discipline of photography) from the Royal Scottish Academy.