Art Forum

From the Glasgow area of Maryhill, Frank McFadden is a protégée of Peter Howson. A former sign-writer and graphic designer, just a few years ago he was addicted to drugs and selling The Big Issue. The older painter, who has also had his problems with addiction, met McFadden by chance in a café on Great Western Road. Howson took him under his wing, employing him as a studio assistant and helping McFadden develop his own artistic ability and personal strength. McFadden says that ‘Peter helped me to believe that I had a future’, and his wish to be a better father to his young daughter spurred him on to create a new life for himself. Howson and McFadden now share a studio in Glasgow’s city centre, and exhibit together in Glasgow and New York. As McFadden’s fame grows, he is building a list of celebrity patrons, including Jessica Simpson and Dawn French.

Like many other painters, McFadden uses the canvas to work out his own personal demons. The figures in his paintings and pastels are, like Howson’s, the dispossessed of society. The pain of people’s lives is put on display through contorted poses, hard lines and luminous colours. Howson says, ‘I found Frank’s work unbelievable. I think he could be one of the great British artists but it will take another five to ten years.’