Ross Sinclair

Professor Ross Sinclair (born 1966) is a Scottish visual artist, musician and writer. He lives and works in Kilcreggan, Argyll and is currently Reader in Contemporary Art Practice at The Glasgow School of Art, whilst also maintaining his professional practice. Sinclair was one of the key figures in the movement of contemporary artists in Glasgow in the 1990s, dubbed the 'Glasgow Miracle' by art curator and critic Hans-Ulrich Obrist.

Early life and education Ross Sinclair was born and lived in Bearsden and went to Boclair Academy before studying at the Glasgow School of Art between 1984 and 1992, gaining first a BA in Environmental Art and then a Masters in Fine Art. This study period included an exchange to the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles in 1992.

Work Since the late 80s Sinclair has shown work in hundreds of group and solo exhibitions in the UK and internationally, producing various monographs of his artworks, notably If North Was South and East Was West as well as writing texts and essays in many books and publications. Ross and the Realifers: Real Life and How to Live it in Parledonia (2013) and Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life (2017.) Over the two decades of the Real Life project, Sinclair's work has employed various mediums including performance, painting and music, often at the same time. Throughout the course of the project, a consistent thread of Sinclair's work has sought to address the nature of the individual, collective and national identities of Scotland.

Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life The most recent incarnation of the Real Life project came as part of a two-week residency Ross Sinclair undertook at the Shanghai Himalayas Museum in China, ahead of his solo exhibition titled Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life. This exhibition served to herald a new phase of Sinclair's on-going Real Life project. For the exhibition Sinclair added the text 'Is Dead' to the 'Real Life' tattoo.

The residency focused on the consistent themes of participation, performance and collaboration, coupled with Sinclair's use of music in his art throughout his career. Sinclair worked with students at the Glasgow School of Art over a period of two years to develop and record two songs (Real Life is Dead and Long Live Real Life) which lay at the core of the exhibition. The songs were recorded in both English and Chinese. which provided the soundtrack to Sinclair's installation consisting of multiple editions of banners and videos representing the 23-years of the Real Life project. Participants were also invited to respond to the themes of Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life with words and pictures which were displayed on banners and placards. at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

In 2016 Sinclair was a Visiting Fellow at St John's College, Oxford University, where he was Artist in Residence for three months. The residency encourages the artist to contribute to the artistic and cultural life of the college with the possibility to exhibit in the studio and utilise the research and staff of the college and wider university.

In 2017 Sinclair exhibited at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, in a solo-show titled After After After The Monarch of the Glen, Real Life Is Dead. The museum commissioned a response to the iconic Edwin Henry Landseer painting The Monarch of the Glen.

It was during this time that Sinclair became a founding member of The Soup Dragons. For 5 years he performed on records and played concerts including Glastonbury in 1987, and supported bands such as Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain. The group went on to perform on Top of the Pops in 1990 and sold half a million albums in the USA.

He has previously released records, Real Life Parledonia (2013) and The Real Life Rock Opera (2004.) and in 2014 to a monograph titled You Are Not Alone. His work appeared in Generation Reader: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland, which was published in 2014 to mark the exhibition of the same name.

In June 2016 Sinclair completed a PhD thesis entitled Ross Sinclair: 20 Years of Real Life and was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Published Work at Glasgow School of Art/Glasgow University.

Awards and recognition 1990: Bank of Scotland Prize for Best Dissertation, Glasgow School of Art 1999: Arendt Oetker Atelier Stipendium, Gelerie fur Zeitgenossische Kunst, Leipzig 2000: Scottish Arts Council, Artist Award 2001: Art Statements, Basel Art Fair, Baloise Prize 2004: SAC Creative Development Award 2011: RSA Residencies for Scotland 2012: AHRC, The Glasgow Miracle: Materials for Alternative Histories 2013: Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland, Artist of the Year Award 2015: GSA Research Development Fund 2015: Knight Award (Detroit/Glasgow project awarded to curator Cedric Tai) 2016: St John's College, University of Oxford, Visiting Fellow/Artist Residency Award