Grad’s gunpowder art sells fast at Royal Scottish Academy Open Ex
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 13:25:00 BST
Celebrated Scottish artist and Huddersfield fine art graduate has a blast at the Edinburgh Open Exhibition by the RSA
A NEW drawing technique developed by University of Huddersfield-trained artist Frank To has created an explosion of enthusiasm. When he made his debut at one of Europe’s most prestigious annual art exhibitions, he displayed pictures created using the medium of gunpowder… and they were quickly sold.
The event was the annual open exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) in Edinburgh. Frank’s first-ever submissions to the show were immediately accepted and his radical new art pieces created in explosive black powder and ignited gunpowder generated high levels of interest.
The critics were impressed too, describing Glasgow-born Frank as inventive and revolutionary, on a par with the French Impressionists.
The pictures exhibited are A3-sized images, mysterious and evocative. One, depicting a woman, is titled Morningless, and the other is Black Rabbit of Inlé – the name of a character in Watership Down - see both drawings below.
“Gunpowder was used by landowners to control rabbits on their estates, so I thought it would be appropriate to do the black rabbit of death in gunpowder!” said Frank, whose growing reputation as a contemporary figurative painter has been boosted by the RSA success.
He has attributed his willingness to experiment with his art to the training he received during studies at the University of Huddersfield.
“Even though it was an honours degree it was a very practical course, almost like an apprentice scheme. We were taught by artists who were very hands-on and they encouraged you to be daring and take more risks,” said Glasgow-based Frank, who graduated in fine art from Huddersfield in 2004.
“I never really expected the gunpowder and explosive black powder series to be this successful,” he said. “All I ever wanted was to show the importance of technical craft, such as drawing and painting, being integrated into contemporary art. Artistic craftsmanship is dying in the UK and I want to highlight that I myself trained in a traditional Scottish art school still value these skills and hard graft.”
◄ Click on picture to view video
RSA Gallery Co-ordinator Andrew Goring said: “The Royal Scottish Academy is delighted to have sold all of Frank To’s dramatic and poignant paintings at this year’s Open Exhibition, which has received over 80,000 visitors during the Edinburgh Festival. The exhibition aims to showcase the breadth of talent in Scotland to a global audience, visiting the nation’s capital at a very busy and exciting time of the year. The sale of artworks is important because the proceeds directly fund the practice of our exhibiting artists, in addition to the work of the RSA, which is an independently-run registered charity and receives no core public funding.”
Morningless
Black Rabbit of Inlé
