Reworked Alasdair Gray mural goes on display for first time in five decades
Artwork first painted mural in family home
It was first commissioned in 1965 by the son of a cinema impresario to decorate the stairwell in his family’s townhouse in Glasgow’s fashionable North Kelvinside district.
Now a reworking of a mural by celebrated Scots artist Alasdair Gray has gone on display for the first time, finally allowing the general public a chance to see it.
The piece, which stands four metres high, is an inkjet print based on the original artwork which remains in a private house near the former BBC television studios in the city’s leafy west end.
It was developed by Gray with help from Roger Farnham, a printmaker who has known the artist for 30 years, and Lin Chau, who worked closely with Gray on his famous Hillhead subway station artwork.
The mural forms the centrepiece of a new exhibition, Facsimilization, which runs at the Lighthouse in Glasgow city centre from Monday until 25 March.
Gray made a rare public appearance at the gallery to unveil his work yesterday. The artist was seriously injured after a fall at his home in June 2015.
The 83-year-old said he was pleased to have the opportunity to revisit the original mural, which was commissioned by George Singleton, son of the well-known cinema chain founder of the same name.
“I had painted a mural for him at his previous house, but he and his wife had left to find somewhere bigger,” he said. “He asked me to do a black and white mural. The vision was to fill the space. He let me go straight ahead. So I painted a big mother earth goddess along with another grim warrior figure and put in various other fantasies as well.
“I was hugely influenced, I suppose, by Hieronymus Bosch. I was putting in a lot of figures that intrigued me.”
Gray added he could not recall his fee for the original work, but admitted the mid1960s were a lean time for him financially. “I didn’t get many commissions and I didn’t sell many paintings,” he added.
There are number of differences between the new print and the original mural, with existing characters moved around and new ones added.
“I’m used to reworking my pictures,” said Gray, who shows no sign of slowing down his creative output. “I’ve been carrying around various paintings unfinished for about 50 years. There’s one I began in 1965 that I think I may finish this year.”
The original mural and townhouse in Kelvin Drive is now owned by Richard and Sandra Phelps, who moved to Glasgow from London in 1983. The couple were not aware of Gray or his work when they first viewed the house but were swiftly enlightened by a neighbour, the writer Hugh Douglas.
“We liked the mural from the word go but I can’t say we rooted around to find a work by Alasdair,” said Mr Phelps. “When we bought the house there was some damage to the mural, but Alasdair sent one of his assistants to carry out some tidying,” added Mrs Phelps. “We have had people in the past knock on the door to ask to see it.”
Gray, who is best known for his 1981 novel Lanark, is also putting the finishing touches to Dante’s Sublime Comedy: A Paraphrase in Prosaic English Rhyme – a free verse translation of Dante’s Comedia into modern English.
It is due to be published by Canongate later this year.
‘I’ve been carrying around various paintings unfinished for about 50 years. There’s one I began in 1965 that I may finish this year’
ALASDAIR GRAY