ARTIST'S CAREER IS ON TREK BY By Ross McKinnon, West End Life 1st Nov 2006

Painter to stars opens new show

By Ross McKinnon

AN ARTIST whose admirers include Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart is staging an exhibition in the West End.

Frank To, 24, has already sold of his creations to the actor best known for his role as Captain Picard in the T.V sci- fi series.

Now some of Frank's work can be viewed at Mansfield Park Gallery on Hyndland Street in the exhibition entitled Figuratively Speaking.

Frank said: "I met Patrick after my degree show and was slightly hung-over at the time as I had been celebrating.

"When he came in I sobered up pretty quickly. He's a fan of art and liked what he saw of my paintings.

My relationship with Patrick took off from there and last year he bought my work for his own collection."

Now the young painter is enjoying an exhibition in the West End alongside the work of renowned Glasgow artist Peter Howson.

Frank admitted his success over such a short period of time has pleasantly surprised him.

He said: "I'm working non- stop at the moment and have had several exhibitions in London which have sold out.

"It's a great honour to have my paintings shown next to Peter Howson, who is someone I admire.

"My art is also very dark and based on an unusual approach. My painting begins as an abstract with no formal structure before I use specific technique to tweak the figure out of the painting.

"My method is more like sculpture. It can be hit or miss and is very instinctive."

Frank may be making waves in the art scene but the artist, who was rejected by Glasgow School of Art, knows how to keep his feet on the ground- by working in his family's Chinese takeaway restaurant, Mearns Wok, in Ayr Road, Newton Mearns.

He said: "I help out occasionally when they are understaffed. It teaches me to be humble because it's easy to get carried away.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to hang up any of the paintings in the restaurant- it might put customers off their food."

The self- employed artist paints in the WASP studio in Dennistoun and graduated from Huddersfield University with a fine art in painting and drawing degree before completing his MA in fine art at Dundee's Duncan Jordanstone College last year.