NEWTON MEARNS ARTIST WILL SHINE AT GLASGOW ART FAIR BY KAYLEIGH MCLEOD By Kayleigh McLeod, EASTWOOD TODAY March 25th 2010

EAST Renfrewshire's art protégé Frank To will showcase his latest work at the internationally acclaimed Glasgow Art Fair.

The thought- provoking pieces of the Newton Mearns based artist will be available to buy at this weekend's exhibition.

Frank's most recent paintings depict psychoanalysis of professional football players.

The show, now in its 15th year, begins today (March 25) and will run until Sunday, March 28 at George Square.

The all day art fair is open from 10:30am until 6:30pm each day and until 8pm tonight.

The Glasgow Art Fair presents over 50 selected galleries and arts organisations from across Scotland, the UK and overseas to offer visitors a wide range of contemporary art, available to buy under one roof.

Marketed as the place to buy, sell and view art outside of London, the weekend fair is not to be missed.

To purchase tickets visit www.glasgowartfair.com where you can obtain a four day unlimited access ticket for just £12.

Tickets can also be purchased on the door £7/£5 and children under the age of ten go free.

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

ARTS FOR ARTS SAKE By David Oliver, THE EXTRA December 3rd 2009

Think of December days out in the city centre and usually two things spring to mind- Christmas shopping or pantomimes.

Obviously there's also ice skating in George Square now, or winter walks through the city's many parks or a saunter along the Christmas market in Argyle Street.

But there's an alternative to the chilly outdoors or the raucous hilarity of festive theatre- fare.

It is an altogether more cultured, if potentially, more expensive, way to pass the time.

This week there are several high- profile art exhibitions going on across Glasgow. The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, in Blythswood Street is one, displaying its Christmas exhibition.

Among those featured will be local boy Frank To (26) showing some of his latest work including Susanoo, Ascend and Gentlemen's Conduct.

The Huddersfield- trained artist told Live!: "I'll be the youngest exhibitor there. I am delighted to be part of the exhibition. Usually you apply to the Billcliffe, but I was asked. It's a huge honour for me.

"I have five pieces on show, and I'm pleased I have the opportunity to show some of my abstract paintings- since graduating I've been focused on figurative work, but I have included some abstract as that's how I was trained.

"They'll be hanging alongside some big names and really great artists. The Billcliffe has a really high reputation among galleries and is highly regarded as one of the best outside London."

But Frank's fine art and the Billcliffe exhibition isn't the only on display this month.

Over the weekend rare watercolours by cartoonists Jimmy Turnball will be displayed at Eastwood House, while another cartoonist, Frank Boyle is exhibiting football cartoons.

Among them are wry looks at the Scottish national team's fortunes, so they're aptly hung in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden.

And still on a sporting yet artistic note, Michael Vaughan OBE- former England cricket captain- will also have his work on show from Saturday in the Castle Galleries within Princes Square.

* Billcliffe Gallery Christmas exhibition until Dec 22, 134 Blythswood Street. Entry free.
* Football cartoons at Scottish Football Museum, Hampden until Jan 21. Entry free with museum entry £6/£3.
* From Crease to Canvas until Dec 20 Catle Galleries, Princes Square, Buchanan Street. Entry Free.

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

FRANK'S NEW SHOW By Roy Beers, EASTWOOD TODAY November 26th 2009

HIGHLY- rated Newton Mearns artist Frank To is set to exhibit a selection of his latest work at the Billcliffe Gallery in Glasgow.

Frank's unique painting technique is garnering him international recognition as a leading contemporary figurative painter amongst art critics and high profile collectors alike, including actor Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek fame) and New York- based Michel Witmer, who hangs To's paintings alongside those of Picasso, Dine and Warhol.

In a shared show with some of Scotland's most promising emerging artists, To will exhibit three pieces at the Billcliffe Gallery.

To said: "I'm delighted to be one of the very few invited to do this exhibition. I hope this show will be the one of many that contributes the importance and reputation of Scottish painting especially in this Recession."

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

ARTIST FINALLY HONOURED IN OWN COUNTRY by Mark Smith, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY October 4th 2009

HE IS the rising star of Scottish art with paintings that now sell for up to £10,000 each.

But Frank To has revealed for the first time how racism and bullying took him to the brink of suicide and rejection by the country's most prestigious art college forced him to leave his native country.

Grangemouth-born To was turned down for a place at Glasgow School of Art when he was a teenager.

This weekend, the 26-year-old artist was back in Glasgow to give his first public demonstration of the techniques that are making his reputation.

He said: "I love Scotland and am proud to be called a Scottish artist. But sometimes you have to leave Scotland before you can get a chance.

"I know that I had to leave Scotland or I would have really struggled.

"I've never talked about this before, but I was rejected by the Glasgow School of Art when I was younger.

"That was very upsetting at the time, and I doubted whether I was up to the job. I'm just a wee lad from Grangemouth, and sometimes you think you are out of your depth in the art world. When Glasgow knocked me back I was pretty gutted."

The Scots-Chinese artist left Scotland and took a place studying art in Huddersfield, in Yorkshire. His painting style involves teasing human forms out of blobs of paint on the canvas, using unusual tools such as toothbrushes.

To said his early life was also scarred by constant bullying at a new school in Glasgow, where he moved with his mother, Winnie, after his parents divorced.

"Life at school was terrible," he said. "I had an artistic outlook, and that didn't go down well at school. I was already badly shaken by my parents' divorce, then the move to Glasgow was also a big change.

"I was badly bullied. Sometimes it was racist because of my Chinese background. Most of the time it was just because I was different. It got so bad that I considered suicide. But painting helped me cope."

It was during his degree show at Huddersfield that To's work first came to prominence. The university's chancellor at the time was the actor Patrick Stewart, famous as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek films but also hailed as one of the country's finest stage actors. Stewart is now his biggest fan, championing his work around the globe.

To said: "Having somebody like Patrick behind me is a great thing. He not only backs me as an artist, he's also been mentoring me on how to present myself, how to be more confident."

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

Peter McGlone, owner of The Queen's Gallery in Dundee, described To as "one of the next big things."

He said: "Frank already has an international following, and his paintings are selling quickly in London and New York. Prices are soaring, and will continue to do so."

This year, To has become one of the youngest painters ever to have his work exhibited at the Albemarle Gallery in London, one of the art world's most prestigious venues. He is also being represented by the New York art dealer, Michel Witmer.

To has now returned to Scotland to live and is at last receiving praise for his work in his home country.

He said: "I don't feel bitter that I was rejected by Glasgow. I like to think I'm too mature to stick two fingers up to them and say, here I am, I've made it."

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

TO BE PERFECTLY FRANK by Mark Smith, THE GLASWEGIAN October 1st 2009

A YOUNG Glasgow artist is set to reveal the tricks of his trade at an arts event this weekend.

Frank To's unique painting technique has won him praise among art critics and high- profile collectors alike.

His work has been hailed by Star Trek star Patrick Stewart, who has bought of his paintings.

Other examples have featured in STV's detective drama, Rebus.

But Frank struggle for recognition in his early professional years.

Now he is offering art lovers a rare opportunity to see for themselves how he creates his work by inviting them to this year's WASPS Open Studio Event in the city's Hanson Street.

Frank said: "My painting technique is inspired by a story attributed to the Renaissance sculptor, Michelangelo. It was said he could visualise the human form within a block of marble.

"In the same way, I tease out figures from initially abstract images. I'll be demonstrating in detail how my paintings are created for the first time at the forthcoming open studio event."

Opening times for the event are Saturday 11am to 5pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm

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

ARTIST FRANK MAKES A ROYAL APPOINTMENT by David Oliver, The Extra, 15/07/09

NEWTON Mearns painter Frank To had a brush with royalty recently.

The Duke of Rothesay, Prince Charles, visited the artist and spent time discussing and admiring his work.

Frank told The Extra: "He's also a keen art lover and amateur artist. He took a great interest in my art and achievements- I've also been invited to this year's Royal Garden Party at Holyrood."

To has also just won an award with Deloitte and Touche LLP for outstanding achievement for an young upcoming Scottish artist and for his painting Yggdrasill which was exhibited in Dundee.

Rick Ballard, SSA committee member and partner at Deloitte in Scotland, said: "Deloitte is very pleased to award Frank the recognition he deserves for his artistic flair and talent. The Yggdrasill piece is very unusual and I look forward to seeing more of Frank's work in the future."

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

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.

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

INVESTMENT IN ART PAYING OFF by David Oliver, The Extra 15/01/09

EVERYONE's pocket has been hit by the credit crunch.

Be it the collapse of a popular high-street brand, the loss of money through bank collapse, or just the soaring cost of living.

Well, except one young Newton Mearns man.

Artist Frank To has seen the price of his work escalate - despite the apparent tightening of purse strings.

He's threatening to go from strength to strength, all on the back of economic instability.

Frank (26) explained to The Extra: "Last year I donated two paintings to the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice. At the time they were worth about £750 each and bidding started at £200. Now prices, for the same pieces just a few years on, are more than £2,000 each.

"I've been exhibiting for eight years now. When the markets were quite stable, my work was selling for £300 max, now it's more than six times that and more and more galleries are looking to pick up my work.

"People are always on the lookout for the next set of Glasgow boys, the new generation of up and coming artists."

With bank savings only guaranteed to £30,000 investors need somewhere safe to stash their cash during a recession. Frank believes that the economic downturn will benefit to the new batch of artists as more investors cut their losses in the stock market and look at alternative uses for their cash.

He added: "Until the last recession, Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin were unknown, then, at the end of the 80s they rose to fame. It's the same this time around. No-one in there right mind would put more than £30,000 into a bank in case it went bust. So what else is there with a stock market in collapse?

"More and more people are viewing art as an investment. Damien Hirst's Shark was initially valued at £25,000 - now it's selling for more than £1m."

So, as painting and economics come to an unlikely collusion, what other financial advice does Frank have for would-be investors?

"When people ask me about buying paintings I always tell them, it's more important to buy something that you enjoy. There's no point in wasting a piece of art you don't like by spending a lot on it, for it not to be displayed."

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