Overview

“…. boundless curiosity, a spirit of adventure, lots of unalloyed nosiness, laced with a quality that is rare in important art: naughtiness.…Where artists in the past have taken on their predecessors in a spirit of inter-epochal warfare, McGlashan does it like a schoolboy who’s gone scrumping. If I had my way, I would put his art onto the syllabus of every art history course in the country. And then watch the numbers grow.”.

Waldemar Januszczak, Art Critic, Sunday Times.

Born and raised in Aberdeen on the North East coast of Scotland, Barry McGlashan studied painting at Grays School of Art graduating in 1996 with first class honours. In 1998 he returned to Grays School of Art where he continued to teach in the drawing and painting department until 2005 when he left teaching to pursue painting full time.

Winning The Alastair Salvesen Scholarship at The Royal Scottish Academy in 2001, McGlashan used the funds to travel through the United States for 3 months. This trip became the starting point for several exhibitions based on this and subsequent journeys taking him through the Mid-West, the Southern States and West Coast. In recent years McGlashan’s fascination with exploration and discovery has led him on a journey through historical travellers, writers and latterly, artists in their studios. Meticulously researched, the recent paintings demonstrate the artist’s extraordinary range of imagination combined with a playfulness and delight he finds in his subjects.  

Examples of his work are held in several public collections including Aberdeen Art Gallery, The Scottish Society (New York) and the Royal Scottish Academy. In 2019 his painting of Rubens in his studio was included in a new display in Rubens’s studio at the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. 

 

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Selected Works
Exhibitions
Video
Biography

Solo Exhibitions

2021 Between The Dream And Waking, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2020 Natura Naturata, John Martin Gallery, London
2018 Line of Beauty, John Martin Gallery, London
2017 The Glass Mountain, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2016 Mudlarks and Connoisseurs, John Martin Gallery,London
2015 The Burning Heart, John Martin Gallery, London
2014 The Sunken Dream, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2013 That Howling Infinite, John Martin Gallery, London
2012 We are Stardust, Smart Gallery, Aberdeen
Quiet Please, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
2011 The Secrets, John Martin Gallery, London
2010 The Whiteness Of The Whale, Foyer Gallery, Aberdeen
2009 Wonderland, John Martin Gallery, London
2008 Somewhere In The North, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
2007 Way Out West, John Martin Gallery, London
2007 New Ways To See The World, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2006 The Big Country, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
2005 The Great Adventure, John Martin Gallery, London
2004 Between Journeys, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
2004 There and Back Again, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2003 Recent Works, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
2002 Small Town continuation, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
2001 Small Town, The Alastair Salvesen Art Scholarship, The Royal Scottish 2001 Academy / The Fettes Gallery, Edinburgh
2000 New Lands, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
1999 Works on Paper, The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
1999 Something New, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen
1998 New Works, The Rendezvous Gallery, Aberdeen

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 Here Come The Suns (Bark Berlin Gallery, curated by Uwe Henneken)
PPP on Paper (Painters Painting Paintings online through Gallery Climate Coalition, curated by Danny Lamb)
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2021 (Royal Academy, London)
Postcards (Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Gotland & Stockholm, Sweden curated by Magnus Karlsson & Brit Pruiksma)
John Moores Painting Prize 2020 (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)

2018/19 Rubenshuis, Antwerp (invited artist)
2016 Columbia Threadneedle Prize
W Gordon Smith Award (Dovecote Gallery, Edinburgh)

2014 Vernissage, John Martin Gallery, Chelsea
2013 National Portrait Gallery Gala, London (invited artist)
2012 Art Toronto
2011 Edward Cutler Gallery, Milan
2010 Cabinet, John Martin Gallery, London
2009 The Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London
2008 BP Portrait Awards, National Portrait Gallery
1995-2003 Aberdeen Artists Society Annual Exhibition, Aberdeen Art Gallery 

1996-2003

New Acquisitions, Aberdeen Art Gallery
The Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh
The Festival Show, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
The Morrison Portrait Exhibition, The Royal Scottish Academy
The Noble Grossart Finalists Exhibition, Glasgow School of Art / The Royal Scottish Academy
The Islington Art Fair, London
Frame of Mind, The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
New Blood, The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Recent Works, A.R.I. Art Gallery, Aberdeen
The Scottish Gallery Summer Show, Edinburgh
The Scottish Gallery Christmas Show, Edinburgh
On a Small Scale, The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Artists Alphabet, The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Compass Gallery Christmas Show, Glasgow
Christmas Show, Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen
Northern Exposure, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Silver, Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen
Group Show, Sotlandart.com, Glasgow
The Royal Glasgow Institute, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
Contemporary Scottish Art, Napier Gallery, St. Helier
The Coaster Project, Transcultural Exchange, 98 global venues
1995-1997 Grays Former Student Exhibition, Aberdeen Art Gallery
1996 New Generation, Compass Gallery, Glasgow
Viewmount Graduates Show, Stonehaven

Awards

2019 The Tatha Gallery Award (Society of Scottish Artists / Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy)
2018 The Scottish Gallery Award (Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy)
2018 W Gordon Smith & Jay Gordonsmith Award (Royal Scottish Academy Open)
2015 Open Eye Gallery Award (Visual Arts Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy)
2011 Commendation (Aberdeen Artists Society)2009~First Prize, The Meffan Winter Exhibition, Meffan Museum, Forfar
2006 The Meyer Oppenheim Award, Royal Scottish Academy
2005 Highly Commended, Aberdeen Artists Society
2004 The James McBey Travel Award
2004 Aberdeen Visual Arts Award Scotland Grant
2003 The Shell Expro Award, Aberdeen Artists Society
2001 The Alastair Salvesen Travelling Scholarship, Royal Scottish Academy
2001 The Shell Premier Award, Aberdeen Artists Society
2000 The Shell Expro Award, Aberdeen Artists Society
1998 The Guthrie Award, Royal Scottish Academy
1996 The MacAllan Award, Royal Scottish Academy
1996 The John Kinross Scholarship, Royal Scottish Academy
1995 The Steele-Cornwall Scholarship, Grays School of Art
1995 Grays Former pupil Award, Grays Former pupil Society
1994 The Hector Memorial Prize, Grays School of Art
1994 The Wood Group Purchase Prize, Grampian Hospitals Art Trust

Collections

Aberdeen Art Gallery
Aberdeen Asset Management
Aberdeen City Council
BP
El Museo De La Ciudad (Mexico)
Grampian Hospitals Art Trust
MacAllan Distilleries (Scotland)
Paintings In Hospitals (Edinburgh)
Professional Footballers Association
The Fleming Collection (London)
The Fuller Museum of Art (Boston USA)
The Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen)
The Royal Bank Of Scotland (Edinburgh)
The Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh)
The Scottish Society (New York City)
Walter Scott Global Investment Management

A Council and Professional member of Aberdeen Artists, Barry lectured in drawing and painting at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen from 1998-2005.

Publications