Campbell mural donated

Feb 1 2010 by Kenneth Speirs, Paisley Daily Express

A MASSIVE mural by a leading painter whose untimely death shocked the art world has been donated to Paisley Museum.

Steven Campbell was a main player in the 1980s revival of figurative painting and earned a worldwide reputation for his work.

But it all came to a sudden and tragic end in 2007 when he died after suffering a ruptured appendix.

Now one of Campbell’s major works has been handed over to Paisley Museum.

Commissioned by airport operators BAA in 1990, The Golden City is 11 metres long and three metres high.

It had been displayed at Glasgow Airport’s departure lounge until 2007.

Now, it will have a permanent home at the museum where it can be displayed in an atmospherically-protected environment.

Painted in 1995, it was created at a time when Campbell nearly gave up art, but re-emerged in 2002 with a show at Edinburgh’s Talbot Rice Gallery dubbed The Caravan Club.

On the open market, the mural would sell for tens of thousands of pounds.

Andrea Kusel, Curator of Art at Paisley Museum, said: “Steven Campbell was a major Scottish artist whose influence on the younger generation of painters remains after his sad premature death.”

Steven Campbell’s widow Carol told the Paisley Daily Express she was delighted the mural has been donated to the museum.

She added: “During Steven’s lifetime it was hung here in Paisley as part of an exhibition, and he was so pleased.

“He always felt a connection with Paisley and was a very good friend of Paisley artist John Byrne. “Paisley Museum is a wonderful museum, well used by locals and tourists alike.

“It is tremendous that Steven’s mural is now a part of the fantastic permanent collection in Paisley.”

Steven Campbell’s leading role in the 1980s revival of figurative painting brought him both critical and commercial success. Born in Glasgow, the son of a steelworker, Campbell has been described by critics as the finest Scottish painter of his generation.

In Scotland he was known as one of the New Glasgow Boys along with his contemporaries, Ken Currie, Adrian Wiszniewski and Peter Howson, all sharing an education at the Glasgow School of Art and an allegiance to figurative painting.

From Glasgow School of Art, Campbell went to New York to study on a Fulbright scholarship.

It was while working in New York during the 1980s that Campbell began to establish an international reputation

Campbell’s last main exhibition was in 2004 at the Glasgow Print Studio. A posthumous exhibition of paintings he had already prepared for a commissioned exhibition was shown at the Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow Print Studio in 2008.

Campbell’s mural and many other pieces are displayed in Paisley Museum as part of a new exhibition entitled Decade, a contemporary exhibition consisting of works acquired over the past 10 years.

In the exhibition, visitors can also see a life-size painting of Steven Campbell, painted by John Byrne towards the end of Campbell’s life.

Admission to the show is free.