Injured artist returns to scene in wake of successful rehabilitation
WRITER and painter Alasdair Gray is to be part of an art exhibition for the first time since suffering a serious accident last year.
Gray, author of Lanark and the painter of a number of murals and portraits, will be part of a joint exhibition with Joyce Gunn Cairns at the Sutton Gallery in Edinburgh.
The joint show opens this weekend at the gallery in Dundas Street, and continues to Friday, October 28.
The work features a recent portrait of Ms Gunn Cairns by Gray, as well as “rare work” from the 1950s and 1960s and some “relatively recent” work.
The show also features a portrait of Alasdair Gray by Ms Gunn Cairns, paintings, drawings and prints.
The Lanark author, 81, suffered a broken back and other injuries during the incident, during which he tumbled into a basement at a property in the West End of Glasgow in June last year.
After a spell in hospital, Gray returned home and continues to write and create art.
Joyce Gunn Cairns trained in drawing and painting at Edinburgh College of Art.
She has works in the permanent collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the City Art Centre, and works in other major collections including Balliol College, Oxford, and Jesus College, Cambridge.
Gray’s artwork has been shown at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Talbot Rice Gallery and was included in the British Art Show in 2010.
He has also produced many public art works, including murals for Oran Mor, The Ubiquitous Chip and Hillhead Subway Station in Glasgow.
He published the novel Lanark in 1981, the first of nine, and he has also published collections of poetry, short fiction and plays.
The Sutton Gallery was established in 2012 by Reuben Sutton and Colin Herd.
In November, speaking for first time since the incident, Gray said he was “recovering well”.
He had to undergo a tracheostomy as part of his treatment.
He said then his left arm and leg were still weak and he was unable to walk.
“It may take a few months to recover my strength,” he said. “Otherwise not too bad.” The accident came during a busy 2015, with a major retrospective of his art at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.