Barry McGlashan

BARRY MCGLASHAN creates luminous oil paintings that are simultaneously fact and fiction. Subtly fusing his own lived experience with a broad range of cultural references—be they from film, literature, music or from the broad historic landscape of art which has come before—McGlashan paints towards a shared emotional experience with the viewer in order to delve into deeper universal truths. It is in these happy fissions where he so celestially renders sublime moments which traverse human experience.

 

Barry McGlashan was born in 1974 in Aberdeen on the North-East Coast of Scotland. McGlashan studied painting at Gray’s School of Art, graduating in 1996. He taught in the painting department at Gray’s between 1998 and 2005. In 2001, McGlashan was awarded The Alastair Salvesen Scholarship through the Royal Scottish Academy. Through this pivotal scholarship, McGlashan was able to fund 3 months of travel through the United States. 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 travelers, writers and, at one point, famous artists in their studios. Examples of his work are held in numerous private and public collections including Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland; The Scottish Society, New York, USA; and the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland. Today, McGlashan lives and works in Aberdeen.