A PAINTING immortalising Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond as 'Angels of The North' is to go under the hammer in Glasgow.
The unusual oil painting, depicting the current and former First Ministers riding a motorcycle and sidecar, is the first in a series of political portraits by artist Graham McKean.
Auctioneers McTear's are to sell the work in Glasgow on Sunday September 18 as part of their Scottish contemporary art auction, with the piece expecting to go for between £2000 and £4000.
'Angels of the North’ shows the First Minister and the MP for Gordon riding along the coast of Scotland in a red motorcycle and sidecar.
Whilst Mr Salmond is giving the thumbs up, Ms Sturgeon is focusing on the road ahead dressed in a purple suit, stilettos and flashing a glimpse of her stockings.
The artist's works have featured in some of the world's top art galleries and have been praised by his peers, including renowned artist Peter Howson.
Mr McKean says he is "not a political person" but does "enjoy a saltire" and wanted to take the opportunity to portray the high profile politicians in a humorous light.
He said“I am not a political person or a supporter of any one party but I do enjoy satire.
"There’s no hostility in this series of paintings and as Scotland and the UK are living through extraordinary political times I’m doing what many artists have done for generations; having a gentle laugh at our best known politicians.
"Angels of the North is the first in a series of paintings featuring some of our best known politicians and major celebrities."
McTear’s Managing Director Brian Clements said: “Graham’s work always attracts a high level of interest at our auctions as he is one of Scotland’s most recognisable and loved artists. His humorous take on modern day situations and characters frequently leave the viewer with a smile on their face and there’s no doubt that this latest work will do exactly that.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel