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. Mutter's 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. Yet, Mutter believes that there is much to be learned from Britain's shipbuilding era, including lessons about community, skill-sharing, and remaining positive in the face of adversity. “There will be kids growing up near the River Clyde who if you didn't tell them about the shipbuilding - probably wouldn't know what used to be there. That's one of the things that drives me. I want to make sure there’s always going to be something out there that’s evocative and will remind people what was there in previous generations, what Glasgow and Britain were famous for - world famous at that. "