Alan Dimmick (born 2 June 1961) is a Scottish photographer living and working in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He is best known for documenting the Glasgow art scene.

Early life

Dimmick was born in Glasgow in 1961, and was named after astronaut

Alan Shepard Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he beca ...

. He attended

Hyndland Secondary School Hyndland Secondary School is a non-denominational state comprehensive school in the Hyndland area of Glasgow, Scotland. The school provides secondary education for children from the local area, although there are many children from other areas ...

between 1973 and 1979 and the College of Building and Printing, now part of

City of Glasgow College The City of Glasgow College (Scottish Gaelic: ''Colaiste Baile Glaschu'') is a further and higher education college in the city of Glasgow. It was founded in 2010 when the Central College, Glasgow Metropolitan College, and the Glasgow Colle ...

, between 1979 and 1982. After a short period spent working at the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

and the

Southern General Hospital The Southern General Hospital (SGH) was a large teaching hospital with an acute operational bed complement of approximately 900 beds. The hospital was located in Linthouse in the south west of Glasgow, Scotland. All facilities and services have b ...

where his father was a neuroscientist, Dimmick moved into a flat with rock band

Del Amitri Del Amitri are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in Glasgow in 1980. Between 1985 and 2002, the band released six studio albums. Their 1995 single " Roll to Me" reached number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Five Del Amitri albums have ...

, which is where his work of documenting the art and music scene began. He was also encouraged by Scottish photographer

Oscar Marzaroli Oscar Marzaroli (1933 – August 26, 1988) was an Italian-born Scottish photographer of post-World War II urban Scotland. He was born in Castiglione Vara in northwest Italy and came to Scotland with his family at the age of two. Marzaroli ha ...

Work

Some of Dimmick's early works were purchased by the People's Palace in Glasgow and the

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

in the 1980s, and he exhibited in group shows at the Collins Gallery in Glasgow, the

Pier Arts Centre The Pier Arts Centre is an art gallery and museum in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. It was established in 1979 to provide a home for an important collection of fine art donated to "be held in trust for Orkney" by the author, peace activist and phi ...

Stromness Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital. E ...

, and the

Inverness Museum and Art Gallery Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

. In 2007, an exhibition of his work was shown at

Street Level Photoworks A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of landform, land adjoining buildings in an urban area, urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as ...

in Glasgow and in 2012, his work documenting the Glasgow art scene was shown at the Gallery of Modern Art. In 2017, a forty-year retrospective was held at the Stills Gallery in Edinburgh. The exhibition was followed by the publication of ''Alan Dimmick Photographs 1977–2017'', with a launch event hosted by

Timorous Beasties Timorous Beasties is a design-led manufacturing company based in Glasgow that specialises in fabrics and wallpapers. The company was founded in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, who met while studying at the Glasgow School of Art. Winner ...

. In the same year, he was Artist in Residence at

Stirling University The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...

. In 2022, a series of Dimmick's Glasgow photographs were displayed in a citywide outdoor exhibition. In the same year, there was also a display of his work at the

Queen Elizabeth University Hospital The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) is a 1,677-bed acute hospital located in Govan, in the south-west of Glasgow, Scotland. The hospital is built on the site of the former Southern General Hospital and opened at the end of April 2015. ...

as part of an

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is an NHS board in West Central Scotland, created from the amalgamation of NHS Greater Glasgow and part of NHS Argyll and Clyde on 1 April 2006. It is the largest health board in both Scotland, and the UK, which c ...

project to "animate public spaces." In 2023, four of his photographs of Millport were included in an exhibition about

Glasgow Fair The Glasgow Fair is a holiday usually held during the second half of July in Glasgow, Scotland. 'The Fair' is the oldest of similar holidays and dates to the 12th century. The fair's earliest incarnation occurred in 1190, when Bishop Jocelin o ...

at the

Scottish Maritime Museum The Scottish Maritime Museum is an industrial museum with a Collection Recognised as Nationally Significant to Scotland. It is located at two sites in the West of Scotland in Irvine and Dumbarton, with a focus on Scotland's shipbuilding heritage ...

. Dimmick describes his composition style as "instinctive," but has cited as early influences Oscar Marzaroli's

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

portraits of

Joan Eardley Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley (18 May 192116 August 1963) was a British artist noted for her portraiture of street children in Glasgow and for her landscapes of the fishing village of Catterline and surroundings on the North-East coast of Scotlan ...

in her studio and

Roger Mayne Roger Mayne (5 May 1929 – 7 June 2014) was an English photographer, best known for his documentation of the children of Southam Street, London. Life and work Born in Cambridge, Mayne studied Chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford University. Her ...

's pictures of post-war, working-class Londoners.

Personal life

Alan's interests—often present in his work—include 1950s

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, b ...

and

ham radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

Solo shows

*2007 Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow *2012 Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow *2017

Stills Gallery Stills may refer to: * Still, a device used for distillation * Film still, a photograph used for the advertising of a film * The Stills, a Canadian indie rock band * ''Stills'' (Gauntlet Hair album) (2013) * ''Stills'' (Stephen Stills album) (1 ...

, Edinburgh *2019

SWG3 Kelvinhaugh is a neighbourhood in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly north of the River Clyde in the West End of the city. Its boundaries are not precisely defined, but roughly correspond to the River Clyde to the south, Yorkh ...

, Glasgow *2020 Stirling University

Book

* Alan Dimmick Photographs 1977–2017 (2018)

Gallery

Image:Stephen Pastel, Bearsden, 1982.jpg, Stephen Pastel, 1982. Image:Justin Currie of Del Amitri in 1984.jpg,

Justin Currie Justin Robert Currie (born 11 December 1964) is a Scottish singer and songwriter best known as a founding member of the band Del Amitri. Career Del Amitri Justin Currie was born in Glasgow and established the band Del Amitri in the early 1980s ...

, 1984. Image:Kelvingrove, Glasgow, 1984.jpg, Kelvingrove, 1984. Image:Alasdair_Gray,_Dowanside_Lane,_Glasgow_1985.jpg,

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and ...

, 1985. Image:Julie by Alan Dimmick, 1987.jpg, Julie, 1987. Image:Bret Easton Ellis, The Arches, Glasgow.jpg,

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a w ...

, The Arches, 1998. Image:Jim Lambie exhibition at Transmission, Glasgow, 1999.jpg,

Jim Lambie James Lambie (born 1964 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a contemporary visual artist, and was shortlisted for the 2005 Turner Prize with an installation called ''Mental Oyster''. Jim Lambie graduated from the Glasgow School of Art (1990-1994) with an H ...

exhibition,

Transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

, 1999. Image:Robert Wringham in 2015.jpg,

Robert Wringham Robert Wringham (born 28 November 1982) is a British writer, best known for his humor writing and as the editor of '' New Escapologist'' magazine. His first collection, ''A Loose Egg'', was shortlisted for the 2015 Leacock Medal. He has also ...

, 2015.

Notes and references

External links

Alan Dimmick Official SiteAlan Dimmick InstagramAlan Dimmick - An Art360 Film by Marissa KeatingQ&A with Alan Dimmick and Ben Harman in 2018Q&A with Alan Dimmick and Ben Harman in 2022Q&A with Alan Dimmick and Ben Harman at Stirling University in 2022Interview with Alan Dimmick and Beth Bate in 2023
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimmick, Alan 1961 births People educated at Hyndland Secondary School Living people Photography in Scotland Scottish contemporary artists Scottish photographers Artists from Glasgow