Ryan Mutter has built up a formidable reputation as a powerful contemporary painter of Industrial and Maritime subjects. His bold realism combined with expressionistic brushwork transports you into a world of arresting detail and mechanised splendour.

Born in 1978, he studied at the Glasgow School of Art, where he graduated in 2001. He has now won many distinguished awards including six at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts.



His inspiration comes from Britain’s industrial heritage and its connection between man and the sea. In Glasgow alone shipbuilding provided work for 70,000 men in more than 50 yards spread along 11 miles of quayside. But today these yards sit empty, a shadow of their former self. The advancements made in technology and design methods superseded the old and made once important skills and craftsmanship redundant. This is what drives Ryan as he looks to capture and remind people of how important this work force was in the development of the modern world.

Ryan visited Bristol some months ago and was inspired by the city's rich and diverse industrial past. As a result, he sent us a powerful series of paintings which will feature strongly in the Summer Exhibition. They are in the gallery and also available for purchase online.