In pictures: Jack Vettriano - Jack and the jet set

Published on Tuesday 15 September 2009 20:47

SCOTLAND'S most commercially successful artist, Jack Vettriano, has unveiled his latest work – set in the millionaires' playground of Monaco. The ten paintings are inspired by the Clyde-built Tuiga – the flagship of the Yacht Club of Monaco – and the work will be part of a major exhibition by the artist in Kirkcaldy next year.

In an exclusive interview with The Scotsman, which is unveiling five of the pictures for the first time, Vettriano spoke of his forthcoming exhibition and his plans to work in Europe.

The Fife-born artist, who has a studio in Nice, was approached by the yacht club last year following his collaboration with Sir Jackie Stewart on a triptych featuring the former racing driver's 1971 victory at Monaco.

The Monaco works mark a return to painting for Vettriano, whose last major exhibition was in 2006. The Tuiga series, part of the ship's centenary celebrations, will go on display next year. The exhibition will open in Vettriano's home town of Kirkcaldy and then tour to London and Milan.

"I'm still, in my mind, a young, or should I say, a middle-aged guy from Fife, who just got really lucky and so to be able to go out and paint in Monaco is nothing short of a dream," the artist said, speaking from Monaco where he is collaborating with a film crew to document the work.

"Most people are stuck at the end of Berwick Pier doing landscapes and so to get invited to be involved with the Tuiga centenary was just lovely. Sometimes I just have to pinch myself and ask, 'Is this really going on? Am I really here?'

"I think the light in the Riviera is just gorgeous and for someone like me, the sheer visual pleasure that you get from being in that kind of environment – looking at beautiful motorcars, looking at beautiful women, the style and architecture – it stimulates all your senses."

Built by William Fife at Fairlie on the Clyde in 1909, the Tuiga was commissioned by the Duke of Medinacelli. He was a friend of the king of Spain, Alphonse XIII, and the vessel was designed to be identical to the king's yacht, Hispania, so that they could then race on equal terms against each other.

Vettriano said that ordinarily he would not take on large-scale projects of this nature, but he felt he needed a change: "I thought, 'This is a bit outside my comfort zone', but I've been on a bit of a treadmill lately, doing exhibitions yearly, so I thought it was an opportunity to take on something ordinarily I wouldn't do. It's a bit of a palate cleanser."

Vettriano now intends to spend time in northern Italy to gain inspiration for a further eight paintings.

"I've been on several visits to Milan and I've been very excited by what I've seen there, I think the light is very good for me, so I'm going to start work on a series of paintings based there," he said. "There's more sunshine (in the next exhibition] but I've still managed to build in that Vettriano narrative. To use a popular term, I like to sex my paintings up a bit."

In the past year, the artist, whose work over the past decade has found much public popularity but little critical support, has taken control of the reproduction of his work after the company that owned the licence went into liquidation.

"I was very pleased to do that, it allows me to ensure the quality and quantity of the work and that I have a say in the work that is reproduced," he said. "It's a great deal."

He added that he wanted his company, Heartbreak Publishing, to become a "safe home" for other artists:

"What we're hoping is that because I'm involved, artists will feel much safer."

Vettriano insists that the public's appetite for reproductions of his work is a greater reward than any acceptance by the Scottish art establishment, an issue that as far as he is concerned has been "hung, drawn and quartered".

He said: "I'm pleased when somebody spends 20 on a poster and in some ways, that is my measure of success: that a man on the street will go and do that.

"It's not about committees sitting in smoke-filled rooms making decisions. My support is the working man."

Despite the recession hitting art prices over the past year, Vettriano said he was "not scared in the slightest" of his work dipping in value, stating that there had been substantial interest in a sale of 14 of his paintings later this month.