ANDREW CRANSTON
b. 1969, United KingdomCranston is a storyteller of sorts, without a clear story to tell. His work is seductive in terms of its use of narrative and humour, but it is the humour of Samuel Beckett or Buster Keaton, always touching on the strangeness and pathos of ordinary life. He draws on a variety of sources, in particular his own personal history; questioning the veracity of memory. This autobiographical activity is combined with passages culled from literature, anecdotes and jokes, second hand accounts, images from cinema and observations of life. Often working directly onto hardback book covers his work is not pre-conceived but emerges through the manipulation of materials—paint, varnish, collage—and the suggestions that this activity provokes, layering and re-working the images until something essential coalesces. As Liza Dimbleby has written in a recent essay ‘the images that are encouraged to surface are sometimes taboo; sex and solitude, death, nightmares—the ultimate questions, not without a sly humour.’ Cranston was born in Hawick in 1969 and currently lives and works in Glasgow.
Andrew Cranston’s solo exhibition, _Never a joiner, _at Ingleby ran between June - September as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, 2023. The exhibition was accompanied by a 184pp publication, featuring numerous illustrations of his distinctive book cover paintings, accompanied by the artist’s commentaries on his work. _What made you stop here?, _Cranston’s first solo exhibition in a UK public institution was on show__at the Hepworth Wakefield from 25 November 2023 – 2 June 2024. The show featured new and recent paintings, focusing on his work since 2016. Cranston’s solo show, _One day this will be a long time ago, _was on show at Karma LA between July 25–September 14, 2024, presenting a selection of works which centered Glasgow, his home for the past twenty-seven years.
In Summer 2025, Pier Arts Centre in Orkney presented Dreams of the Everyday, an exhibition of works by Andrew Cranston and Winifred Nicholson, curated by Richard Ingleby and Jonathan Anderson. The exhibition was accompanied by a book co-published by 5b and Ingleby. The show travelled to the Holburne Museum, Bath and opened in October 2025.
Courtesy Ingleby
Works at Ingleby
Works Elsewhere
Andrew Cranston in Ocula Magazine
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