Award-winning Falkirk artist Frank To has enjoyed yet more success with his highly explosive – and collectible – creations.

Frank, who is renowned for his unique gunpowder artwork, has not only secured the prestigious Bearnes Hampton and Littlewood Award at the South West

Academy (SWAc) of Fine and Applied Arts, he has also become one of the very few Scottish artists accepted into both SWAc and the Bath Society of Artists.

This kind of recognition is nothing new to Frank, who has a fan in New York-based Michel Witmer, who hangs Frank’s paintings alongside those of Picasso and Warhol.

Falkirk artist Frank To's work has been causing shockwaves once again (Picture: Submitted)

placeholder image — Falkirk artist Frank To's work has been causing shockwaves once again (Picture: Submitted)

The late, great actor Patrick Stewart, famous for portraying Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard, was also a huge fan of Frank’s work.

In recent years he has exhibited alongside some of the greats of the Scottish and international art and design scene, such as Antony Gormley, Banksy, Damien

Hirst, Francis Bacon, Jimmy Choo, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Peter Howson.

“I’m both humbled and honoured to have received the Bearnes Hampton and Littlewood award,” said Frank. “For me it’s the fact that the founding patron of the

Frank To's Two Bee or Not to Bee creation (Picture: Submitted)

academy believes that my work is of the highest merit still shocks me."

Alison Summerfield, SWAc chairperson, said: “We were delighted that Frank entered his work again this year. The use of gunpowder as a medium is both highly

thought provoking and expressive.

"His entry Cours, Petit Lapin, Cours 2 immediately caught the eye of SWAc sponsor Nic Saintly who awarded Frank the Bearnes Hampton and Littlewood award.”

Tabish Khan, established UK national art critic, said: “Powerful art often hits you like an explosion, making you step back. Frank To takes it further by incorporating mini-explosions into his work, using gunpowder to scorch the paper.

"He harnesses the chaotic nature of gunpowder so that even he doesn’t know exactly how it will turn out. In doing so, he is transforming an instrument of violence into a creative act.”

Frank’s gunpowder piece “Two Bee or Not Two Bee” is currently on display at the Bath Society of Artists Annual Exhibition in Bath’s Victoria Gallery, while Cours Petit Lapin Cours 3 can be viewed in Kennaway House, Devon.