Who is Alasdair Gray?
The spirit of our Gray Space
Alasdair Gray is a creative polymath best known for his novels Lanark, Poor Things and 1982, Janine and his murals in the Oran Mor, Ubiquitous Chip and Hillhead Underground. He’s often described as a genius and regularly compared to William Blake.
He’s also Kat and Tracy’s uncle and his work had a profound impact on Anita. This is our attempt to share something of Alasdair Gray’s spirit and who he is to us.
Select a subject to find out more…
Alasdair in his own words
This is Alasdair Gray in his own words… composed by Scott Twynholm for Kevin Cameron’s film Alasdair Gray, A Life In Progress:
Audio transcript:
“I’ve always felt that stories and pictures were a way of keeping people I knew alive and as they were. The portraits for instance, you know that, show people young and middle aged, long after they’re dead! And keep them remembered long after they’re forgotten, I hope. And the same if you make people characters in stories.
Painting by Alasdair Gray with text at the bottom that says, We Were Like This In 1966
Anybody who has seen a lot of my work… book illustrative designs, mural paintings, will find certain faces and figures keep coming up in them. Certain symbolic or emblematic figures, like the winged embryo inside the skull, which for me is a way of reconciling life and death. Because I’m showing that death contains new life and, well life punches through death to take on a new form.
The emblem of a winged embryo inside a skull that Alasdair reused over many years
Many such figures I use and recycle. And many mottos. ‘Work as if you lived in the early days of better nation!’ I got that from Dennis Lee, a Canadian poet. And it seemed to me such a good idea. Such a good way of approaching your own work. Seeing yourself as, as something early! And something that could be made better.”
1959-62 mural painting by Alasdair Gray, The Seventh Day after Creation
Who is Alasdair Gray to you?
“I tried to call him a genius a few times and he would wriggle and squeak about it as if I was pouring boiling water down his back. He was a genius. His work showed me anything was possible, you could go anywhere - you could be Scottish and go anywhere. Huge gift.”
Alasdair Gray’s creative imagination connected him to people worldwide and his work belongs to all of us. To understand Alasdair we need to know what he means to you too! What 3 words would you use to describe Alasdair and his work?
Explore more…
A Gray’s place
After Alasdair Gray died his flat was cleared and sold. But you can still visit it.
Alasdair Gray’s creative DNA
Explore Alasdair’s creative character and process through the eyes of the people who worked with him.
Alasdair Gray Rereads podcasts
A series of intimate and informal readings and conversations.
Read more
External links:
BBC Arts - Under the Helmet a documentary about Alasdair Gray’s work broadcasy by the BBC in October 1964.
Alasdair Gray, a Life in Progress (Trailer) an intimate portrait of Alasdair Gray filmed by Director Kevin Cameron over the course of 15 years.
Glasgow Print Studio- for prints of Alasdair’s art.
Alasdair Gray Archive at the National Library of Scotland - manuscripts and written work.
Canongate.co.uk - Alasdair’s long-time publishers
Alasdair Gray | National Galleries of Scotland - for images of Alasdair’s art.
The Alasdair Gray Archive - personal possessions and visual materials