contact details
email: a.cranston@rgu.ac.uk
tel: 00 44 (0)1224 263633

web site:

ANDY CRANSTON

Biographical Statement

Andrew Cranston studied Fine Art at Manchester Polytechnic and Grays School of Art. He later completed an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 1996. He has had several Scholarships and residencies in  Austria, Norway and Germany. He worked as a part-time lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee (1999-2000) and became a full-time Lecturer in Painting at Gray's School of Art in 2000.

Cranston has had solo shows at the R.S.A, Edinburgh (2000) and The Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield (2002). Group shows include: "In the Summertime" , Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (1999);  "Mostyn 13" , Llandudno (2003); "Sometime Blonde", Rockwell, London (2003); "Albatross", Galeria Wozownia, Torun, Poland (Nov 2003).

In 2004 Cranston was commissioned to write and direct "Lion Thief", a promo video for the Indie group The Beta Band. Cranston received the Rootstein Hopkins Sabbatical award for lecturers (2006) and 2007 he was selected to participate in East International, Norwich Gallery.

Personal Statement

I have been a regular contributor to the underground satirical magazine published by the art collective "BANK" (1996-98) and also worked extensively with the Scottish Indie band "The Beta Band" (1998-2005) creating album artwork, live performances, and directing a video. I am represented by The Hamish Morrison Gallery in Berlin and in 2010 I was elected as an R.S.A Academician. My research interests are; Painting and Drawing as a form of Fiction, Interior Architecture, The Uncanny.

My work also makes reference to descriptions of architectural spaces in literary texts (Kafka, Perec, Poe), spaces that are fictionalised but nonetheless believable. This inquiry leads to visualising notions of "the uncanny", "the unheimlich" or "unhomely".

I paint at the same time and without conflict, from both observation and imagination, and believe that the best art has an element of both. My work affirms a belief in painting as a  real kind of fiction.

Research activity:

2010 - Solo Show of paintings at Hamish Morrison Galerie, Berlin
2010 - Exhibitor in "Prints of Darkness", Group Show of editioned prints referencing Album Cover Art at Edinburgh Printmakers (August 2010) and touring to various venues
2009 - Solo Show of Paintings and Book Covers at International Project Space, Bourneville College, Birmingham
2009 - Exhibitor at EAST INTERNATIONAL, Norwich, selected by Art & Language, and Raster Gallery

Catalogues and Reviews:

2009 - Review of IPS Show in Turps Banana Issue no.7 by Andrew Childe
2009 - Review by Adrian Searle of EAST INTERNATIONAL (The Guardian)
2009 - Review of EAST INTERNATIONAL Frieze (online), Chris Fite-Wassilak
2009 - Featured Artist in Ruby Mag (Issue no 36)
2009 - Review of EAST INTERNATIONAL in Artist's Newsletter, Matt Roberts
2009 - Artist of the week no.36, Jessica Lack, The Guardian

In 2010 I was appointed External Examiner in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee.

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