PAISLEY, UK.- A former chart-topping recording artist has been chosen as one of four finalists in Scotland’s answer to the Turner Prize.

Steven Lindsay found fame as the lead singer of Glasgow-based band, The Big Dish, whose best known single was Miss America.

Now the singer, who attended Glasgow School of Art in the early 1980s, along with Scottish contemporary art stars, Steven Conroy and Alison Watt, has been short listed for one of the art word’s biggest privately funded awards, The Aspect Prize.

His three fellow finalists are; Adam Kennedy, whose brother Paul Kennedy was short listed for the last year’s prize, Rowena Comrie, who recently completed a 20ft map of Scotland for the BBC painted on tarmac and Frances Law, a Kirriemuir-based artist who won the Scottish National Art Prize in 2008.

All four artists received £5,000 at the opening of the annual Aspect Prize exhibition at Paisley Art Gallery & Museum on Friday night (11/6/10).

The quartet are now in line for the premier award of £15,000, which will be awarded at the Aspect Prize Finalists’ exhibition. This will take place in January 2011 at The Fleming Collection in London. The artists will spend the next six months working towards this exhibition.

The Fleming Collection, an Embassy for Scottish Art in London, is the largest private collection of Scottish Art in the world. The overall winner will have their painting displayed within the collection.

Aspect Prize Chairman Charles Jamieson said: "Very rarely, a group of judges react as one with gasps of delight and astonishment when viewing work. It happened this year when we were selecting the finalists for the Aspect Prize.

“We have selected four sensitive, observant, skillful and passionate artists. Artists who are ready to take what they already have and move it forwards. Who need and deserve this opportunity to develop and to discover for themselves and for all of us too. This is an exciting year for The Prize”

THE SHORTLIST

Steven Lindsay
Steven studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1982-1985 and was a contemporary and friend of Steven Conroy and Alison Watt. He left art school when Virgin offered him a record deal and achieved major recognition as the lead singer of The Big Dish, who are best remembered for their hit single, Miss America. He has a classic approach to painting and favours broad brushwork, an influence which stems from his art school tutor, the acclaimed painter, John Cunningham. Most of his work is figurative and influences include Stanley Spencer, Vermeer, Lucian Freud and the Scottish Colourists. From 1985 to 1996, Steven was signed to Virgin Records, EMI Music Publishers and Warner Bros USA before signing to Chrysalis Music in 2006 as a recording artist/songwriter. He now works as a freelance graphic designer, art/creative director, artist and musician.

Steven lives in Paisley.

Adam Kennedy
Adam is a Glasgow-based contemporary artist who graduated in Intermedia Art from Edinburgh College of Art in 2009. Kennedy's art ranges from site specific installation and extraordinary objects influenced by the history of airline travel to paintings reflective of his childhood fixation with transport and growing up next to the River Clyde in Glasgow. Recent influences for his work have been contemporary artists including Anne Penman Sweet, whose paintings of loose shapes and colourful drips depict oil tankers, and Kilmarnock-born Ryan Mutter, who paints dark, heavy images of River Clyde-built structures. Adam comes from a talented family. His brother, Paul Kennedy, was an Aspect Prize finalist in 2009.

Adam lives in Glasgow

Frances Law
Since leaving Glasgow School of Art in 1980, Frances has supported her practice by working part-time and gained experience in higher and further education, community arts and healthcare. Her inspiration is drawn from natural forms and in particular shells found on the beaches of Mull and Iona. The influence of the Hebrides in her work has unconsciously driven her to produce and uncrowded space, an invitation to meditation. She hopes that through her contemplation, her paintings yield up their true meaning, drawing on the unseen, going beyond initial appearance revealing some of the power and energy of nature.

Frances lives in Kirriemuir, Angus

Rowena Comrie
Rowena has worked as a professional artist for the past 25 years. She has supported her painting practice with teaching at Aberdeen University and in Schools delivering the SAC supported "Arts across the Curriculum" programme, and through other freelance artwork including the design of an abstracted 20ft map of Scotland for the BBC painted on tarmac. Rowena says her images submitted this year are examples of large-scale oils that have been at the bedrock of her practice since her student days and have continued to play a vital role in her work. She is influenced by colour field painters such as Frankenthaler, Blow and Leapman.

Rowena lives in Glasgow