ALLAN GRAHAM-TAY

You wont find me talking bigtime about the lines, the colours, the style of the artist, i do not pretend to be something i am not, for one, i did not attend a big art learning establishment for years, i have no title or letters after my name, i can tell you what I personally like about something, but it does not make me an expert...........for me art is something you stand and look at and it makes you question it,  it can be different for everyone, it can be as simple as a photograph, nature, a burnt tree, the sky, or a humongous canvas. 

To tell you the truth i dont always get it, a pile of bricks??? a half cut cow??? cow dung on  a canvas.......but that doesnt mean its not art, it meant something to the artist, and hopefully something to the viewer, so i will never say that a individual piece is shit......i will just say....i dont get it.

I always had an interest in art, but never had the opportunity to do anything about it, not going into boring stories, but due to unconventional childhood and raising my own kids....other things always took priority. 

So the past few years have been an life changing experience for me, photography was always my way of expressing myself, but i became frustrated with it, as no matter what i took a picture off, it was always someone else creation, natures, an architect, so i picked up my pencil and started sketching.  

My partner found the sketches and i was promptly packed off to summer school at Edinburgh College of Art....which even tho it was an experience, i discovered that this sort of establishment was not for me.  So an alternative was quickly found and i ended up having an interview at Leith School of Art, with Scottish artist Kenneth le Riche, who looked over my portfolio and invited me to study there for a year .

This has been the best thing that ever happened to me, it is an amazing place to study, in an old church, with loads of studios, and it has a unique family feel to it, the staff and other students are supportive and we all discuss each others work negative and positive.

My work has been described as dark, angry, and compared to an amazing artist Peter Howson (look him up, well worth a check), so i am happy that its being questioned like that so far.......but also baffled a bit as i am by nature the joker and always laughing.

anyway, hope you like my work, please drop a note to say what you think on the feedback page, i am always interested to hear views whether "its shit"....or "i like it"

talk soon

Allan