About Alan Brash | Glasgow-Based Contemporary Artist

Master of Letters in Painting and Printmaking, Glasgow School of Art
I am a figurative contemporary painter, recently completed a Master of Letters post-graduate studies 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.

Below are video clips of me at work. For where I have exhibited then have a look at my CV page.

The underpainting continues and in places fat going onto lean, January 2026. Check back for more updates soon. Runtime 54secs.

Underpainting the composition of the next untitled painting, January 2026. Check back for more updates soon. Runtime 1m 52secs.

Preparing a canvas 140 x 180 cm for my next painting in the Queer Reflection body of work.

Here I am starting sketching using Earth Green the composition for the the painting 'Revelation'. As always I adjust and reassess composition. Its important to establish the important lines first.

The work is shaped by my experiences of growing up during the late 1970s and 1980s, as 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.

Continuing to use Earth Green for the composition sketching of 'Liminal Comfort'. You may spot a few objects in sketch never made it to the final painting.

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.