Man, Hands Clasped, c.2000

<p>Conroy graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1987 when his Degree Show caused a sensation. His ‘arrival’ represented a high-water mark in a period of enormous excitement surrounding the history of The School of Art and of Scottish painting. The painters of <em>New Image Glasgow</em> (Third Eye Centre, 1985) Howson, Campbell, Wiszniewski and Currie in particular were blazing a trail across the contemporary art scene, spiced with a measure of excess and machismo. In 1987, Conroy and his then-girlfriend Alison Watt emerged, sharing a more tonal, enigmatic vision. Conroy’s paintings evoking an Edwardian world of secret societies and arrested violence immediately made his reputation and his drawings in oil and pastel demonstrated a maturity and sophistication beyond his years.</p>