Ross Sinclair

Sinclair’s work is held in many collections, including The Scottish Arts Council, The British Council, Arts Council of England, Ferens Art Gallery, The Pier Arts Centre, Stirling District Council, Sammlung Hauser & Wirth, St Gallen, Hamburg Kunsthalle, Collection Lambert, Avignon and private collections in Switzerland, Germany, the UK, France, the USA and Hong Kong.

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

Also in 2017, Sinclair undertook a 2-week residency at the Shanghai Himalayas Museum in China. This accumulated in a solo exhibition titled Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life. For the exhibition, Sinclair added the text 'is dead' to the ‘real life’ tattoo. The exhibition included a multi-media presentation. In Shanghai, Sinclair worked with local musicians, artists and singers to create the Chinese-Scottish Real Life Orchestra. The group came together in a collective voice, in English and Chinese, to share experiences through music.

The residency was supported by the British Council, and was one of the programmes in the Spirit of Youth campaign in 2017.

In 2016 Sinclair was a Visiting Fellow at St Johns 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 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.

2016: St John's College, University of Oxford, Visiting Fellow/Artist Residency Award

During August 2015, Sinclair exhibited his work in 20 Years of Real Life at Edinburgh's Collective Gallery, which celebrated 20 years of his Real Life project. Sinclair worked with teenagers to create 5 bands and produce an LP titled Free Instruments for Teenagers.

2015: Knight Award (Detroit/Glasgow project awarded to curator Cedric Tai)

He has previously released records, Real Life Parledonia (2013) and Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life (2017) and CD's I Tried to Give Up Drinking With Guitars Instead of God (2013) and The Real Life Rock Opera (2004.)

2013: Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland, Artist of the Year Award

2012: AHRC, The Glasgow Miracle: Materials for Alternative Histories

Ross Sinclair has participated in monographic and group exhibitions worldwide. Solo shows include those at the South London Gallery in 2010, Badischer Kunstverein in 2002, Art Metropole, Toronto in 2004 and Angelika Knäpper Gallery, Stockholm in 2010. In 2014, Sinclair took part in Generation: 25 Years of Contemporary Art in Scotland at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Ross Sinclair has written extensively. He contributed to an essay on Susan Phillipsz (the 2010 Turner Prize winner) 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.

He often makes music in relation to his artworks and this is documented through a number of releases including Ross Sinclair: The Real Life Rock Opera Volume I (2004), Ross and the Realifers: Real Life and How to Live it in Parledonia (2013) and Real Life is Dead/Long Live Real Life (2017.)

2001: Art Statements, Basel Art Fair, Baloise Prize

1999: Arendt Oetker Atelier Stipendium, Gelerie fur Zeitgenossische Kunst, Leipzig

Ross Sinclair is best known for his Real Life project, initiated in 1994 when he had the words 'Real Life' tattooed across his back. Since then Real Life has become a 23-year performance project, taking form in a wide range of exhibitions, public art and publication contexts. 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.

1994: Scottish Arts Council, Amsterdam Residency '94-'95

In 1994 police removed a printed T-shirt by Ross Sinclair from the window of the Fruitmarket Gallery on the basis that the slogan 'Fuck the police' was grossly offensive.

1992: Richard Ellis M.A. Prize, Glasgow School of Art

1992: Hope Scott Trust/The Cross Trust/The Scottish International Education Fund

In the early 1990s Sinclair left the group to complete his studies at the Glasgow School of Art.

1990: Bank of Scotland Prize for Best Dissertation, Glasgow School of Art

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.

Ross Sinclair was born & 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.

Ross Sinclair is a drummer and guitarist. In 1984/85 joined his first band, Gods For All Occasions, featuring Neil Menzies and Raymond McGinlay, later a member of Teenage Fanclub.

Professor Ross Sinclair (born 1966 in Glasgow) 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.