Jack Vettriano the Scottish painter famous for his ‘Athena style’ kitsch paintings has announced he is to give up painting due to a recent accident which has caused his shoulder to be dislocated.
In a released statement the artist said; “As a result of a recent accident my right shoulder was dislocated and the reality is that I am going to be unable to paint in the foreseeable future. “I am undertaking a course of physiotherapy but am facing a long recovery period. In the meantime I would like to thank the public for their continued support and interest.”
The 63-year-old artist from Fife, whose work includes The Singing Butler, (sold in 2004 for £744,000) is famous as an illustrative and sentimental favourite in the UK. His work achieves huge sums but he also generates millions for his his prints and postcards. A spokeswoman for the artist said that following his retrospective at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, the artist has never been so popular, with a growing international demand for his work.
Vettriano was born in 1951, left school at 16 and did not take up painting full-time until the age of 40 when his partner gave him a paint set as a gift. Two of his canvases submitted to the Royal Scottish Academy sold on the first day of the exhibition and he became a professional artist exhibiting in Edinburgh, London and New York. He was made an OBE in 2003.