Garry Brander featured at Eden Gallery in Lichfield

Glasgow based Garry Brander was born in 1983 and graduated with a BA (Hons) from the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in 2011.

As well as being a keen artist from an early age, Garry also had a fascination with building-type materials and making things – as a boy he favoured Plasticine, building blocks, Lego and Meccano. Uncertain of what to do as a career when he left school, he then started to build garages, sheds and house extensions, however he became unsettled and decided that his real interest lay in art construction rather than physical building construction. He undertook an art foundation and portfolio course including graphic design at Anniesland College at the age of 21, before gaining entry to the GSA.

Garry is a very likeable character who paints equally likeable and expressive imaginative landscapes with a particular focus on surreal characters, sheds and huts set against simple non-cluttered backgrounds. He adds in a typically humorous fashion “My buildings are a bit like me and perhaps all of us – they are not perfect and are at risk of falling apart at the edges.”

His constructs invite us to escape and find a safe haven to momentarily retreat to, where we can reflect on the true meaning of life and relationships rather than the racy, almost surreal, modern day treadmill that we can find ourselves on.