Alasdair Gray is best-known as one of Scotland's foremost novelists, the author of groundbreaking works including Lanark and 1982, Janine. However, he is also an artist: as well as illustrating his own works, he is a remarkable portrait painter, and his odd, brilliant murals can be found on the walls of private and public buildings in his native Glasgow. A collection of his artwork, A Life in Pictures by Alasdair Gray, is newly published by Canongate
The Scottish painter and novelist standing in front of one of his murals in the auditorium of former church Òran Mór, now a Glasgow arts venue. The murals in the auditorium constitute one of Scotland's largest pieces of public artPhotograph: Murdo Macleod/GuardianGray's 1978 poster for The Continuous Glasgow Show, an exhibition of art at the People's Palace in Glasgow's Botanic GardensPhotograph: CanongateRed Beth, 1968 Photograph: CanongateCowcaddens Streetscape in the Fifties, 1964Photograph: CanongateLondon Road between Templeton's Carpet Factory and Monaco Bar (end of Arcadia St III), 1977Photograph: CanongateA mural illustrating the book of Jonah, from the wall of a private flat in Glasgow, painted in 1961, and restored with added detail in 2002Photograph: CanongateThe City: Version Two, 1951 Photograph: Alasdair Gray/CanongateSnakes and Ladders (film sequence with Liz Lochhead), 1972Photograph: CanongateAlasdair GrayPhotograph: Murdo Macleod/Guardian