Gerard M. Burns (born 13 June 1961) is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
painter and musician. One of Scotland’s best known portrait artists, Burns has been heralded as one of the country’s leading artists of the human condition, playing a pivotal role in promoting the genre.
Life and art
Burns was born in Glasgow. He graduated from 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 ...
in 1983 with a degree in Fine Art.
As a student, he conceived the band Valerie & The Week of Wonders with Brian McFie,
Greg Kane and Ewan McFie. The group signed to
A&M Records & Rondor Publishing in 1984. Burns was the singer, songwriter and guitarist. His subsequent band, Heaven Sent, supported
Simple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977. They have released a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United St ...
.
He returned to painting in 1990, when he became a Principal of Art at
St Aloysius' College, Glasgow. After teaching for a total of 12 years, he became a full-time painter in 1999.
In 2003, Burns was the inaugural receiver of ''Not The Turner Prize'' for his figurative oil on canvas, ''Labyrinth''.
His painting ''A New Journey'' appeared on the
First Minister's Christmas Card in 2009 and featured Burns' niece holding a
saltire.
In 2014, his ''14 for 14'' exhibition was launched during the
XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. His Painting ‘The Rowan’ hung behind Alex Salmonds desk in the Scottish Parliament for the duration of his Tenure as First Minister. His portrait of Alex Salmond was unveiled in the Scottish Portrait gallery in Dec 2015.
In April 2015, on the occasion of Scotland Week, he opened the exhibition ''A Brush with Inspiration'' in New York, featuring 16 paintings of notable Scots, from
Ewan McGregor to
Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon (born 19 July 1970) is a Scottish politician serving as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) since 2014. She is the first woman to hold either position. She has been a member of ...
.
After the high-profile
SoHo
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
gallery, he decided to show his works to the Scots in a shopping center in
Easterhouse
Easterhouse is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, east of the city centre on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of an expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. The area is on high ground north of the River Clyde and south ...
, which he saw as "a metaphor... for areas of social deprivation and the thought that there shouldn’t be a postcode lottery when it comes to access to the arts." He donated the paintings to raise money for a new hospice in Glasgow.
Burns usually takes photographs of his subjects before working on their portraits. The painter notes, however, that "each of the various pictorial elements also contains a deeper symbolic meaning... My goal is realism, but it’s by increasingly abstract means that realism is attained.".
Charity work
Burns has donated much of the proceeds from his works for charity.
His painting ''Road to Emmaus'' raised awareness of the work of
Emmaus
Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, ''Emmaous''; la, Emmaus; , ''Emmaom''; ar, عمواس, ''ʻImwas'') is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before tw ...
, a charity helping homeless people. His portrait of
Alex Salmond raised 50,000 pounds for
CLIC Sargent, a charity supporting children and young people with cancer and their families. The portrait of
Billy Connolly raised 40,000 pounds for the
National Trust for Scotland. Burns launched a special collection of prints to raise money for
Mary's Meals
Mary's Meals, formerly known as Scottish International Relief (SIR), is a registered charity which sets up school feeding programmes in some of the world's poorest communities, where hunger and poverty prevent children from gaining an education. ...
, a charity setting up school feeding projects in some of the world's poorest communities.
Solo exhibitions
* 2014: ''14 for 14'', Glasgow
* 2014: ''Fairhill Winter Exhibition'', Glasgow
* 2015: ''A Brush with Inspiration'', New York
Collections
Burns' works are kept in several private and public collections.
Corporate and public collections:
* The Royal Bank of Scotland
* Standard Charter Bank
* Hunterian Gallery, Glasgow
* Scottish Parliament (First Ministers Office)
* Accenture, Dublin
* Jesuits (SJ) millennium commission, London
Private owners of his works include:
*
Ewan McGregor
*
Sir Tom and Marion Hunter
*
Sir Philip Green
*
Malaysian royal family
Awards
* 1997: RGI.\ Winner "N. A. Macfarlane Charitable Trust Award"
* 2003: Daily Mail "Not the Turner" competition, first prize
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Gerard M
1961 births
Living people
20th-century Scottish painters
Scottish male painters
21st-century Scottish painters
21st-century Scottish male artists
20th-century Scottish male singers
Artists from Glasgow
Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
20th-century Scottish male artists