‘Gunpowder graduate’ one of few accepted by Royal Art academies

Successful artist Frank To’s work combining ‘gunpowder and drawing’ has now been accepted for exhibition by the Royal West of England Academy of Art, the Royal Ulster Academy of Art and his native Royal Scottish Academy

A HUDDERFIELD graduate and rising British artist has received an ‘explosion’ of interest becoming one of the few artists to be accepted into both the prestigious Royal West of England Academy of Art Exhibition and the Royal Ulster Academy of Art Exhibition.

Now, Glasgow-based Frank To’s ‘gunpowder plot’ has been accepted in the exclusive annual exhibition by the Royal Scottish Academy, which commenced recently.

The work, titled Fragile (pictured below) and combining Frank’s innovative technique of blending gunpowder with drawing, is a representation of a long-forgotten piece of Scottish history surrounding an event that took place in the First World War when two German airships attacked Edinburgh in a night-time raid to provoke the British Navy into open confrontation with the German Navy.

In April 1916, the two German Zeppelins, the L14 and L22, appeared over Scotland to drop bombs on the naval base at Rosyth, north of Edinburgh, a secure harbour for the British Navy.  The airships used the coastline as a guide to their intended target, however, heavy cloud foiled the attack and misled the airships into mistakenly dropping their bombs on nearby Leith Docks and Edinburgh itself, but south of the city.  Twenty-three bombs were dropped during the raid, which caused 13 deaths and much devastation and resulted in a further 24 people sustaining injury.

In his artwork, Fragile, Frank uses the gunpowder technique to depict an airship emerging from the clouds… or is it exploding? 

Says Frank: “The use of gunpowder to portray the Zeppelin is in total contrast to the airships themselves, which, though massive structures, were very fragile and dangerously unstable in terms of the inflammable nature of the hydrogen gas used to inflate them. 

“I’m happy for the audience to explore the scene in their own minds; that is whether it’s emerging from the cloud, as in the Edinburgh attack, or where it is exploding, similar to the Hindenburg airship disaster,” he added.

Drawing with gunpowder

Frank To graduated in fine art from the University of Huddersfield in 2004 and his unique gunpowder technique has garnered him international recognition as a leading contemporary artist amongst art critics and high profile collectors alike. 

These include the University of Huddersfield’s former Chancellor, celebrated actor Sir Patrick Stewart, and New York-based art consultant Michel Witmer, who displays Frank’s work alongside those of Picasso and contemporary artists like Jim Dine and Andy Warhol.

Always searching for new ideas and innovations, Frank hit on the idea of using gunpowder in his artwork back in 2016 and it was an overnight success.  In carefully controlled conditions, he ignites the gunpowder so that the image is powerfully transformed.  He quickly learned that he needed to use heavy gauge, handmade paper, and he also used chemicals to control the rate of explosion. 

By combining gunpowder and drawing, he has produced highly atmospheric pictures that were first accepted, against very heavy competition, for the Royal Scottish Academy annual exhibition.  Unusually, both of his drawings at the time were selected by the panel of expert judges.  More exhibitions followed.

• The Royal West of England Academy Open Exhibition has a long history of celebrating the best of British contemporary art.  Now in its 167th year, this annual exhibition invites a variety of work and is a showcase of some of the most exciting artists from across the country and beyond.  
• Founded in 1879, the Royal Ulster Academy of Art is the largest and longest established body of practicing visual artists in Northern Ireland.  Frank’s gunpowder exhibits sold out on the opening night.
• The Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition has a long history of celebrating the best of contemporary practice.  After having been part of the Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition for over 180 years, it now enjoys its own slot in the RSA Calendar.  Drawing from artists across the whole of Scotland and beyond, the exhibition showcases around 400 works annually and features a wide range of small- and medium-sized works through open submission.