Hanna Tuulikki

Tonight I attended two preview exhibitions for Alasdair Gray, the polymathic genius of Scotland, the writer of Lanark and the painter of many fine public murals.

The first at GOMO, Spheres of Influence I, which looks at Alasdair Gray’s practice, influences and work as inspiration to delve into the Glasgow Museums Collection and explore connections between them. With works spanning over four centuries there is a rare opportunity to see gems from the likes of William Blake, Aubrey Beardsley and David Hockney.

The second exhibition was at the Reid Building at the Glasgow School of Art, Spheres of Influence II which provides an alternative reading of Alasdair Gray’s visual work, through the prism of others’ works, both historical and contemporary. The exhibition includes work from Alasdair Gray’s personal archive, plus work by Aubrey Beardsley, Oliver Braid, Eric Gill, Peter Howson, Dorothy Iannone, David Kindersley & Lida Lopes Cardozo, Stuart Murray, Denis Tegetmeier and Hanna Tuulikki.

I met up with the talented vocalist, musician and artist, Hanna Tuulikki who was showing a series of alphabet lithographs and drawings (A Rose in the Dawn and A Wake to the Dream). Hanna was happy to pose for me as though she was the letter T in her alphabet. Worth looking large to take in the artwork.

The Alasdair Gray Season celebrates Gray at eighty years old, focusing on his visual work, with exhibitions and events across venues including GOMA, The Glasgow School of Art, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Glasgow Print Studio.

These two exhibitions really compliment the fabulous exhibition at Kelvingrove, "From the Personal to the Universal", which has more than 100 works from Gray's time at the Glasgow School of Art to the present. Many are from Gray’s collection, as well as loans from private and public sources. His agent, Sorcha ­Dallas has curated the exhibition which recounts how Gray found early inspiration from Saturday morning art classes at Kelvingrove aged 11.