Press

An acclaimed artist is paying tribute to his late friend with an exhibition at Glasgow School of Art.

Alasdair Gray will stage the show in memory of Alasdair Taylor, who died last year.

The exhibition, titled the Two Alasdairs, brings together a collection of paintings by the pair who met while studying at the school in the 1950s.

Gray said: “School bosses asked me if I’d like an exhibition and I asked if it could be a shared on with Alasdair.

“His work isn’t known as widely as it should be – mainly because he didn’t exhibit very much.

“I appreciated his use of colour and he was a good portraitist. Some were inspired by him because of his non-commercial capacity of promoting himself. He has left a legacy of paintings and has influenced many people.”

The exhibition focuses on Gray’s treatment of Glasgow, the Scottish landscape, the people in it and their relationship with their environment.

Taylor’s work is a selection of colourful abstract expressionist works from his vast archive of creations done in his studio in Portencross, Ayrshire.

Gray said: “We must have influenced each other’s work because we spent a lot of time together.

“He’d be pleased to se this exhibition come together, but I’d like to see some of his work in national galleries where it deserves to be.

“He belonged to a generation of artists divided into hermits and dominies. He was a hermit and spent a lot of his time painting in his cottage that had no electrical lighting.

“It was his wife, Annelise, who supported him and had faith in his work.”

Grainne Rice, GSA’s exhibitions officer said “Having work like this in the school has a big impact on the students/ It’s important they learn the history of what they’re studying ad there’s always a buzz when Alasdair Gray is here. Both artists are inspirational.”