Item NMC/1838 - Screen print

Adrian Wiszniewski was born in Glasgow in 1958. He was educated at the Mackintosh School of Architecture and then the Glasgow School of Art from 1979 to 1983. He was influenced by New Image painting in the early 1980s, combining figurative art with social commentary, and he belonged to a group known as the New Glasgow Boys where he played a leading role. 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." He gave his first solo show in 1984 in London and Glasgow; the Tate acquired some of his paintings at that time. Between 1986-87 he was at at the Walker Gallery, Liverpool. he has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and abroad and is considered to be a leading figure in Scottish painting. Wiszniewski's paintings and prints are often figurative, but never wholly realistic. The figures are often used as a conduit to lead the viewer to the layers of meaning contained on the flat surfaces. Their interpretation is open to the viewer who cares to conduct his own dialogue with the work. His large-scale figurative paintings contextualised by neon, drawing, print and collage are dominated by self-parody and a reflective tone.

Inspired by the work of Matisse, Wisniewski has also been influenced on a conceptual basis by artists as Bruce McLean and Gilbert & George. He has tried different directions in his work, including 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 in a collaborative exhibition with the musician and artist Edwyn Collins. He has worked with the Scottish Philharmonic Orchestra in the production of the musical narrative The Girl, The Boy and The Hag. Wiszniewski wrote and illustrated an accompanying book.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). He lives and works in Renfrewshire, Scotland.