GLASGOW.- How can a contemporary artist give a voice or fresh perspective to the established canon of figurative painting? Why do artists choose to give a voice to the characters they create? ‘To have a voice’ explores a variety of approaches.

The female protagonists of Moyna Flannigan’s paintings rise warrior-like out of the canvas, expressing character and intent with an economy of brush stroke. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Hernan Bas creates detailed and vibrant settings for his youths to inhabit. Chantal Joffe, a GSA graduate, paints mostly women and girls, seeing it her role to question assumptions about what makes a noble subject for art. Israeli artist Gideon Rubin wishes to offer alternative ways to view the figure – in his ongoing series of portraits all recognisable facial features are removed. A painting installation by Portuguese artist Bruno Pacheco offers different viewpoints of a guard observed in Tiananmen Square. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, influenced by the history of European portraiture uses this framework to create a new art history of Africans and people of African descent in painting. Reminiscent of early filmic double exposures, figure, face and landscape morph into each other in the work of Glasgow born Kaye Donachie.

GSA Exhibitions Director, Jenny Brownrigg says, “Art School students can often be drawn to making figurative works as they develop their practice. We wanted to curate an exhibition that looked how painters today work with and more importantly, subvert, the expectations of this genre.”

Hernan Bas (b.1978 in Miami, Florida, United States). Hernan Bas is represented by Victoria Miro.

Kaye Donachie (b.1970, Glasgow, Scotland). Donachie was born in 1970, Glasgow and currently lives and works in London. She is represented by Maureen Paley.

Marlene Dumas (b. 1953, Cape Town, South Africa). Lives and works, Amsterdam.

Moyna Flannigan (b. 1963, Kirkcaldy, Scotland). Moyna Flannigan’s work is characterised by an exuberant imaginative energy, black humour and a probing critique of the effects of power on personal, cultural and political alienation in the modern world. Her paintings and works on paper reflect the psychological crisis created in the individual by the distorted values of a world dominated by celebrity, financial greed, self-serving political and religious posturing, and are drawn from a huge range of reference points: from art history, film, and popular culture.

Moyna Flannigan received an MFA from Yale University School of Art, USA in 1987 and a BA (Hons) from Edinburgh College of Art. Solo exhibitions include New Paintings, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Trouble Loves Me at Sara Meltzer Gallery New York, A Footprint in the Hall, Mount Stuart Visual Arts Programme, Isle of Bute, well, Well at Doggerfisher gallery, Edinburgh, and Once Upon our Time at Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. Her work has been included in numerous shows nationally and internationally including The Collector’s Show, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Playboy Redux, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA, Teasers: Selected Works by Women Artists, The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, USA, and Beautiful Shadow: Moyna Flannigan and Julie Roberts, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam. She was the recipient of a Scottish Arts Council Artists Award in 2004 and a Creative Scotland Award in 2005. From 1995–2005 she was a lecturer in Painting at the Glasgow School of Art.

Bruno Pacheco (b. 1974, Lisbon, Portugal). BLURB

Gideon Rubin (b. 1973, Israel). BLURB

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (born 1977, London, UK) is an artist of Ghanaian descent based in London. Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is represented by Corvi-Mora.

Chantall Joffe. Chantall Joffe is represented by Victoria Miro.