Gerards M. Burns graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree from the Glasgow School of Art in 1983. Shortly afterwards, he received acknowledgment for his analogous passion for music when A&M records signed his band, Valerie & the Week of Wonders. They went on to support Lyle Lovett, Love & Money and Simple Minds. They also wrote a sound track for Happy the Man, a short film directed by Jim Gillespie, and were shortlisted for the Old Grey Whistle Test’s Video of the Year competition for ‘Ships in Clyde’, also directed by Jim Gillespie.
In 1990, Gerard was appointed principal of the Art Department of St Aloysius' College in Glasgow. He left in 1999 to concentrate full time on his painting, and within a very short space of time, has established himself as a serious contender in Scottish art. A winner of the highly prestigious N.A. MacFarlane Trust Award and the Daily Mail's NOT the Turner Prize competition, he has recently completed a series of successful exhibitions in both the UK and in the USA. Better known perhaps for his large, figurative oil paintings, his subject often includes landscape, portraiture and depictions of his home city of Glasgow. His themes tend to be based upon stories relating to classical mythology and Christianity brought into contemporary times & settings.
Gerards M. Burns graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree from the Glasgow School of Art in 1983. Shortly afterwards, he received acknowledgment for his analogous passion for music when A&M records signed his band, Valerie & the Week of Wonders. They went on to support Lyle Lovett, Love & Money and Simple Minds. They also wrote a sound track for Happy the Man, a short film directed by Jim Gillespie, and were shortlisted for the Old Grey Whistle Test’s Video of the Year competition for ‘Ships in Clyde’, also directed by Jim Gillespie.
In 1990, Gerard was appointed principal of the Art Department of St Aloysius' College in Glasgow. He left in 1999 to concentrate full time on his painting, and within a very short space of time, has established himself as a serious contender in Scottish art. A winner of the highly prestigious N.A. MacFarlane Trust Award and the Daily Mail's NOT the Turner Prize competition, he has recently completed a series of successful exhibitions in both the UK and in the USA. Better known perhaps for his large, figurative oil paintings, his subject often includes landscape, portraiture and depictions of his home city of Glasgow. His themes tend to be based upon stories relating to classical mythology and Christianity brought into contemporary times & settings.