Adrian Wiszniewski (born 1958) is a Scottish artist and one of the members of the New Glasgow Boys a group of artists who emerged from Glasgow School of Art and led the resurgence of Scottish figurative painting in the late 20th century. Other members of this group included the late Steven Campbell, who was a close friend of Adrian,

Peter Howson Peter Howson OBE (born 27 March 1958) is a Scottish painter. He was a British official war artist in 1993 during the Bosnian War. Early life Peter Howson was born in London of Scottish parents and moved with his family to Prestwick, A ...

and

Ken Currie Ken Currie (born 1960 in North Shields, Northumberland, England) is a Scottish artist and a graduate of Glasgow School of Art (1978–1983). Ken grew up in industrial Glasgow. This has had a significant influence on his early works. In the 19 ...

. Under the tutelage of artists like

Alexander Moffat Alexander Moffat, OBE, RSA, (born 1943) known as Sandy Moffat, is a painter, author, philosopher, and teacher. Biography Alexander Moffat OBE DLitt RSA studied at Edinburgh Art College, where he was taught by William Gillies, Robin Philipson ...

in the 1980s the four later went on the attain national and international status.

Biography

Adrian Wiszniewski was born in Glasgow in 1958. He was educated at the

Mackintosh School of Architecture The Mackintosh School of Architecture (MSA) is one of the five schools which make up the Glasgow School of Art, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow, Scotland. The Mackintosh School of Architecture is the Glasgow School of Art's only acad ...

and then the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

from 1979 to 1983. He was influenced by New Image painting in the early 1980s, combining

figurative art Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representational. The term is often in contrast to abstract a ...

with social commentary. And he belonged to a group known as the New Glasgow Boys where he played a leading role.About the artist - Adrian Wiszniewski RSA
Retrieved on 24 Mar 2018 They were known in the mid-1980s with their "figure paintings as redolent of fantasy and myth as they were attuned to the workings of contemporary thought and everyday life."Adrian Wiszniewski
Retrieved on 24 Mar 2018 He gave his first solo show in 1984 in London and Glasgow; the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

acquired some of his paintings at that time. Between 1986 and 1987 his paintings resided at the

Walker Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

, Liverpool. Since then he tried different directions in his work. He was engaged with printmaking, sculpture, installations, furniture and interior design and writing. As an author he explored "new media as a central part of the art of communicating fresh ideas". In 2011 an exhibition of his recent paintings were shown at 108 Fine Art,

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

in a collaborative exhibition with the musician and artist

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...

. He has worked with the Scottish Philharmonic Orchestra in the production of the musical narrative ''The Girl, The Boy and The Hag'' and Adrian wrote and illustrated an accompanying book.

Awards and distinctions

Wiszniewski won the Haldane Trust Award (1982), the David Cargill Scholarship (1983), the Mark Rothko Memorial Award (1984), the I.C.C.F. Best Design Award New York (1993) and the Lord Provost Gold Medal of the City of Glasgow (1999).

Exhibitions

*1984 Compass Gallery first solo show *1987 The Vigorous Imagination: New Scottish Art,

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is part of the National Galleries of Scotland, which are based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The National Gallery of Modern Art houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to th ...

*2015 Cyril Gerber Fine Art solo show *2018, London, ''Glasgow Print Studio'' at

London Art Fair The London Art Fair (LAF) is an annual contemporary art fair held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. Overview The fair displays modern British and contemporary art, from the early 20th century onwards, presented by galleries ...

*2018, London, ''Cyril Gerber Fine Art/ Compass Gallery'' at

*2015, London, ''Glasgow Print Studio'' at

London Original Print Fair The London Original Print Fair is an annual art fair in London. It is held in late April at the Royal Academy of Arts in London's Piccadilly. The Print Fair was founded in 1985 by Gordon Cooke, a director of The Fine Art Society in London. In 19 ...

Museums and galleries

Wiszniewski's paintings are held in collections including: *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York * Middlesbrough Museum of Modern Art, Middlesbrough *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

* Setagaya Museum, Tokyo *

, Edinburgh *

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

, London *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London

His selected works

* ''The Sculptors Nightmare'', pastel on paper, 1984 * ''Shepherds'', oil on canvas * ''The Barber'', oil on canvas, on panel, 1984 * ''Highland Mary'', gouache on paper, 2011 * ''Yellow Dog'', oil on canvas * ''Taking Cuttings'', oil on canvas * ''The Falls of the Clyde'', oil SCOTLAND ARTISTS, Adrian Wiszniewski
Retrieved on 24 Mar 2018 * ''Dance of the Maidens'', gouache on paper * ''Japanese Garden'', oil on canvas * ''Portrait on a Floral Background'', mixed media * ''Refugee'', mixed media on wood

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisniewski, Adrian 1958 births Scottish artists Living people