STAR TREKS TO EXHIBITION by Victoria Davidson, THE BIG ISSUE 23/04/09

Picard actor Stewart boldly goes to Leith gallery

Intergalactic seals of approval don't come much higher- ranking than Starship Enterprise Captain Jean Luc Picard. But young Scots artist Frank To's pal, actor Patrick Stewart, dropped in to his current exhibition at Edinburgh's Leith Gallery while in Scotland starring in Beckett's Waiting For Godot.

Stewart has been a fan of To's work since he saw his degree show, and has five of his paintings in his private collection, including a portrait of himself. Stewart said: "I like Frank's work for its thoughtfulness, intensity, use of colour and mature technique." The exhibition runs till April 25

For more information, please visit the official website of Frank To Fine Artist.

PICARD MAKES TREK TO LEITH By David Oliver, THE EXTRA 23/04/09

NEWTON Mearns artist Frank To finally met up with his most famous celebrity fan this week.

The painter's current Edinburgh exhibtion, at the Leith Gallery was visited by actor Patrick Stewart, famed for playing Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek the Next Generation.

The actor was in town performing alongside Ian McKellen in Waiting For Godot and took time out from rehearsals to view more of the southsider's work. He has bough To's work before and considers himself a fan.

For more information, please visit the official website of Frank To Fine Artist.

TO BOLDLY GO TO FRANK'S DISPLAY By Peter Carroll, The Glaswegian 22/04/09

GLASGOW-BASED artist Frank To reached the final frontier when he welcomed an other worldly guest to his latest exhibition - Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart.

Frank, from Newton Mearns, welcomed the sci-fi icon to his latest exhibition held at The Leith Gallery, Edinburgh, this month.

But don't think the 27-year-old artist, who is based at the WASPS artist studios in Dennistoun, has nothing more to do than KLINGON to his famous guests.

Frank and Patrick, who is currently treading the capital boards in Samuel Beckett's play, 'Waiting For Godot', go back light years. Well, more than five years actually.

Frank told The Glaswegian: "I've known Patrick ever since 2004 when he came to my degree show at Huddersfield University. He has been a great supporter of my work and has five of my paintings in his collection."

But Frank says when he was first introduced to the English actor things weren't so pleasant.

He said: "I first saw Patrick on Star Trek Generations when he was playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but he had been turned into a baddie. I was seven at the time and totally terrified.

"He's a really nice man though and it was great for him to come along on Thursday."

Frank's exhibition in the capital closes on Saturday and he is currently working on his next show, to take place in Dundee in September.

To view the actual article, please visit the official website of Frank To Fine Art.

SCOTS ARTIST WHO CAUGHT PATRICK'S EYE by Tim Cornwell, The Scotsman 18/04/09

ACTOR Patrick Stewart took time out from a "marvellous" run in Edinburgh this week to visit an exhibition at the Leith Gallery featuring Frank To, a young Scottish artist whose work he collects.

Stewart has been buying art for 20 years, he said, including five works by To.

"This is my private passion. I like to have pictures around me, I have two homes and I've run out of wallspace."

The two men first met at Huddersfield University, where Stewart is chancellor. Falkirk-born To, 26, was a student there before returning to Scotland to do his masters at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee.

He has since shown work alongside Peter Howson and Damien Hirst.

"I think he's very gifted, and I'm delighted he's beginning to get an international audience," Stewart said. "He's adventurous and bold, and not afraid of a big canvas."

To's portrait of the actor is on sale as part of the show, for £1,700, the last of three he completed.

For more information, please visit the official website of Frank To Fine Artist.

FRANK GOES WHERE NO ARTIST HAS GONE BEFORE IN ROMAN PORTRAIT by Hazel Mollison, The Edinburgh Evening News, 17/04/09

Patrick Stewart hails image as it goes on display in Capital

Patrick Stewart hails image as it goes on display in Capital

HE has boldly gone where no artist has gone before.

Frank To created a striking image of actor Patrick Stewart, aka Star Trek Captain Jean-Luc Picard, in the style of a Roman emperor.

And when the artist showed it to the man himself at a gallery in Leith, the 68-year-old Stewart - currently in the Capital performing in Waiting for Godot at the King's Theatre - gave it his seal of approval.

The actor became friends with the young artist when Mr To was a student and he was chancellor of Huddersfield University.

Stewart admired his work at a graduate exhibition and bought two pictures. Since then, he has eagerly followed his career and was happy to sit for a portrait.

His profile, in red and orange colours, is one of the eye-catching paintings now on display at the Leith Gallery, on The Shore.

Stewart said: "For me, it was especially gratifying to find a student whose work was so exciting and fresh. Since then, I've got to know him and keep abreast of his exhibitions. I've got pictures by him in both my homes. I'm very impressed by his latest work. It's very different from his earlier pictures, which were very abstract."

He said he has enjoyed returning to Edinburgh for the first time in more than a decade. He is performing until tomorrow in the sell-out production, opposite his X-Men co-star Sir Ian McKellen.

He said: "I'm here with my girlfriend this time, and we've had time to be tourists. We've loved it - I wish I could stay longer.

"It's such a beautiful city and unlike anywhere else. I'm a fan of architecture and I've enjoyed walking up streets and looking at all the details on old buildings. We also enjoyed the Turner and Italy exhibition.

"We've had a wonderful welcome, with full houses every night. One of the most charming things is, in every city, we've used local young actors. We've really enjoyed working with them."

Mr To, 26, who is originally from Falkirk, said Stewart's interest and encouragement had been a huge morale boost.

He is already making a name for himself as a figurative artist, with exhibitions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London. His work has also featured on STV's Rebus.

He said: "I met Patrick by chance when he came to my degree show. I was very surprised.

"It's been nice to have someone like that support me and believe in me. It was a massive boost."

He said he had been inspired by depictions of kings and emperors on ancient coins when painting the portrait. He said: "I was thinking about art and propaganda, and why they put the head of the monarch on to coins. Patrick acted in Anthony and Cleopatra, and that inspired the idea."

For more information, please visit the official website of Frank To Fine Artist.

GALLERY ROUND-UP, The Herald April 11th 2009

The Leith Gallery

65 The Shore

0131 553 5255

www.the-leith-gallery.co.uk

Mon- Fri 11am- 5pm;

Sat 11am- 4pm

Until April 25

The Leith Gallery in Edinburgh has always had a policy of promoting young artists, and its annual Faces exhibition features the cream of Scotland's art school graduates. Graham Flack was one of the featured artists in 2001, while Frank To exhibited there in 2006.

Flack, whose work reveals a fascination with the human head and the space around it, was born in Northern Ireland and studied at Edinburgh College of Art. He won third prize in the BP Portrait Award in 2003 and was one of four shortlisted artists for the Aspect Prize in 2007. He has been recommended as one of the ‘Top 20 of Scottish Art' new and old to invest in, and his work is in many collections including The Scottish Office, Edinburgh College of Art and that of actor Robert Carlyle.

At just 26, Frank To has garned himself an impressive reputation with his psychologically intense studies of the human form teased out of an abstract background. His most famous collector is the actor Patrick Stewart. To has produced a powerful study of Stewart's head specially for this exhibition.

For more information, please visit the official website of Frank To Fine Artist