Glasgow artist uses GUNPOWDER to make "unique" works in global demand

“Turns out you can’t just walk off the street and buy gunpowder in your local shop,” jokes Frank To.

“You have to ask permission, fill in lots of forms – Police Scotland have to get involved and issue permits …. I had no idea.”

Frank’s gunpowder artwork has caused an explosion of interest, having recently been featured at the Royal Ulster Academy in Belfast and the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol – the only Scottish artist to be selected for both in 2022. Keen collectors overseas have also been snapping up the works, which Frank creates in his east end studio.

King of Bees by Frank To (Image: Euan Anderson)

“I love Dennistoun – when I was growing up, it was an up-and-coming area, and it was home to the artists I was inspired by when I was a teenager, like Peter Howson, Ken Currie and Adrian Wiszniewski,” he says. “To now be based in the place where my art heroes worked is really amazing.”

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To create his ignited gunpowder artworks, Frank has to use specialised paper and work in strict conditions – hence all the safety precautions.

“The whole beauty of the image comes after it has been ignited,” he says. “And you can’t do that indoors, for obvious reasons. So I had to create a whole specialised area.

“I came up with the idea because I wanted to do something different. I worked in oils, predominantly, before this, but I have always had quite a pragmatic approach to art. You have to do something unique to be noticed.”

He adds: “I think the pragmatism comes from my mother’s family, who were all entrepreneurs, and very strong people. My grandfather fought in World War Two, my mother, Winnie, ran her own takeaway at a time when not many women in Glasgow ran their own businesses - and she was a single parent, bringing up my younger brother, sister and me. I was raised by a feminist, a strong woman.”

Frank with his mother, Winnie, on his graduation day (Image: Frank To)

Frank is an awardwinning artist, whose high profile collectors include actor Sir Patrick Stewart, former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Edinburgh Castle and New York’s Michel Wiltmer, who hangs Frank’s works alongside those of Picasso and Andy Warhol. Frank is also the first commissioned artist to work with Humanium Metal, a fairtrade alloy developed by IM Swedish Development Partner made from seized and melted illegal firearms.

His life as an artist has not always been easy, he explains – and conditions for those working in the creative sectors continue to be difficult.

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“When I graduated in 2005, life was pretty hard for artists and here we are, in 2023, and nothing is any better,” he says.

“After I graduated, I survived on bread and pasta, sleeping on friends' sofas whilst investing everything I had into my art.”

He admits he thought about giving up.

“I don’t glamorise the whole ‘starving artist’ rite of passage thing at all, but it did teach me a lot about resilience,” he says.

“The way I see it, you can just as easily fail doing something you hate as you can doing something you love – so you might as well follow your dream.”

Frank adds: “It has been a difficult year for everyone in the creative and cultural sector due to the cost of living crisis – buying art is becoming a luxury that people cannot afford. There is a sense of pessimism in the air. Despite this, I feel it’s important for me to keep pushing the boundaries with my art and further enhance the reputation of Scottish art in these unknown times.”

Frank says he was “very honoured” to represent Scotland at the Royal Ulster Academy and Royal West of England Academy annual exhibitions.

“I have never been a person who can become content,” he explains. “I’m always looking for the next challenge. That is what being an artist is about - to keep pushing and never be too comfortable.”