Jack Vettriano: A Life

Book excerpt: Emerging from the unlikely background of the Scottish coalfields, unknown and untutored, Jack Vettriano has become Scotland's most successful and controversial contemporary artist. Appearing on posters and cards, mugs and umbrellas, prints of his work outsell van Gogh, Dali and Monet and his paintings have been acquired by celebrities around the world. Vettriano's images are a gateway to an alluring yet sinister world; a timeless place where past and present intertwine. Daylight scenes of heady optimism, painted against backdrops of beaches and racetracks, are counterbalanced by more disquieting canvases of complex night-time liaisons in bars, clubs, bedrooms and ballrooms. His powerful canvases are beautifully captured in this new edition of Jack Vettriano, which includes 15 more recent images, from exhibitions between 2006 and 2010.