Art Pistol: Aimed at Your Walls

Specialising in original, affordable art, the punchy-sounding Art Pistol leaves no excuses for decorating one’s walls with those ubiquitous and impersonal stock images. As the name suggests, it makes buying stunning limited edition works that you’ll actually enjoy as quick and easy as pulling a trigger. Based online but frequently staging pop-up shows, the gallery offers a tempting alternative to traipsing aimlessly around town when you want something new for your home. One can spend many happy hours idly browsing the works online – and discovering artists you might never have heard of.

Showcasing the works of heaps of new graduates from the Scottish art schools, as well as others around the UK, Art Pistol means you don’t have to wait for Degree Show time to come around to bag an amazing work that’s only going to appreciate in value. Art Pistol’s founder, Ali Smith, is a Fine Art graduate of Glasgow School of Art, and handpicks works of promising emerging artists.

The gallery’s most recent pop-up show, at the Creative Scotland HQ in Edinburgh, featured the work of recent Edinburgh College of Art grad Charlotte Roseberry, as well as the similarly exciting work of Eleanor Carlingford, Patrizio Belcampo, Jonathan Cotrell, Jenny Lewis and Richard Martin. Maybe you remember an artist from a previous year’s Degree Show and regretted not buying from them – chances are, an online gallery like Art Pistol is just the place to seek them out and see how their work has progressed.

Perhaps you really want to see an artwork in person before making a purchase – then simply ask. If possible, Art Pistol will feature it in one of their future pop-up shows. They’re currently planning one in Glasgow for November which will lead right through until December, and which Smith promises will be their biggest and best yet. That’s Christmas sorted, then. If you’re strapped for time or just can’t wait until then, the website has even organised the works into gift ideas.

A nice twist on the usual online gallery model is that rather than the price quoted being the final say, you can make the artist an offer and have a dialogue with them. Or alternatively, you could take advantage of the Own Art scheme and spread the cost over ten months.

As well as the online gallery and pop up exhibitions, Art Pistol also stages public art projects – you’ve probably already seen the murals around Glasgow, taking over empty walls and construction site hoardings. Earlier this year they consulted with local businesses to transform Gordon Lane, just across from The Lighthouse centre for architecture and design, with a mural of a giant panda, the work of local artist Klingatron. You can also buy his work on Art Pistol.

Another project saw the gallery ask residents of the city to submit images of local characters to become part of a mural by Rogue-One which runs the length of a hoarding just a few blocks from Glasgow’s Central Station. And there’s more to come. Currently in the pipeline are four public art projects celebrating the Glasgow Commonwealth Games next year. Two murals, on badminton and netball, are already visible in Partick and Merchant City, with another two on netball and hockey planned any day now – if the rain holds off. Art Pistol’s public art projects may be weather permitting, but there’s nothing to stop you opening fire on your own walls.