Alan McGowan

Alan McGowan is a figurative artist and teacher whose books celebrate the activity of painting and drawing from life. His expressive brushwork and dynamic use of colour in combination with accomplished draughtsmanship have won him many honours including exhibiting at the BP Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Threadneedle Prize for Figurative Art, the Society of Portrait Sculptors exhibition and The Ruth Borchard self portrait exhibition. In 2014 he was a semi-finalist in the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the year and his work is featured in the international painting annual review INPA5, published in 2016 by Manifest in Cincinatti USA.

He has taught at a number of art institutions including the Royal Academy of Arts in London, The National Portrait Gallery London, The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, The Royal West of England Academy Drawing School and Edinburgh College of Art. He has exhibited widely in the UK, regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy, and in New York, Lisbon, Helsinki, South Korea and Prague, and his work appears in several public collections including that of the Royal Scottish Academy and Stirling University.

In 2012 he published his first book of book of life drawings titled "The Language of the Body", which was followed in 2017 by his next book "Unstill Life".