About
Alan Brash
The studio is genuinely my happy place: a place where I can be honest — with the work and with myself. Painting is an act of reclamation — of self, of story, and of space.
Master of Letters in Painting and Printmaking, Glasgow School of Art
I am a contemporary figurative painter, having recently completed a Master of Letters in Fine Art Practice at the Glasgow School of Art. My current body of work explores queer identity through a deeply personal lens. Using oil on canvas, I reflect on moments of resilience, vulnerability, and the evolving sense of self.
The work is shaped by my experiences of growing up during the late 1970s and 1980s, when being a gay man often meant navigating a double life. I respond to the societal and political pressures of that era—forces that sought to suppress queer lives through targeted shame and rigid ideals of family and masculinity.
Now, later in life, I find myself discarding the shame I once carried for simply being who I am. Painting has become a way to examine that internalised shame, and to let it go. It’s an act of reclamation—of self, of story, and of space.
The figures in my paintings are either anonymised or self-portraits. This allows me to shift between emotional distance and direct self-examination, deepening my connection to the work while inviting viewers to reflect on their own experiences of identity and belonging.
Using figure, colour, and space, I construct compositions that explore the emotional impact of those years—the damage endured, and the quiet strength that emerged. The domestic and internal spaces I depict serve as sites of memory, tension, and quiet resistance. Some works are overtly autobiographical; others speak to shared queer experience, rooted in survival and the pursuit of joy.
In the Studio
Short clips of work in progress, most recent first.
News & Features
Featured artist interview — Art & Ideas, Philadelphia, Summer 2026.
Degree show review — ArtMag UK, September 2025.