Ian Bruce studied MA Fine Art in Edinburgh graduating with a First in the summer of 2007. It was a specialised joint honours lasting five years with History of Art at the University and practical arts at the Edinburgh College of Art.

For his degree show he lived in Nutley Hall, a residential community for people with mental disabilities, where he produced a collection of 18 portraits. The series travelled from Edinburgh to Big Shed in Suffolk then on to Nutley where they remain with the residents.

Since his degree show he has had a show in the Cosa Gallery in Notting Hill where his paintings were bought by the jeweler Theo Fennel. He was also spotted by the owners of London’s most extravagant bars Beach Blanket Babylon. Bruce’s huge double portrait of two young men was hung for the launch party of Zoo Art Fair. He is in the process of doing a another giant gloriously gilded portrait of the two owners.

Bruce has worked as a commissioned portraitist for more than seven years. With work that varies from single portrayals to family compositions with subjects that range from musicians and burlesque dancers to teachers and hedge fund managers. He has recently been commissioned by Eton College to paint a series of ten randomly selected ex students to convey a genuine demographic of “Old Etonians”.

In amongst his commissioned portraiture Bruce is always on the hunt for bizarre subjects. His current venture is to portray the dandy and writer Sebastian Horsley in his Soho apartment.

Ian Bruce’s alterego is the singer of The Correspondents, a contemporary swing duo that have played in countless venues and festivals from the Globe Theatre to Glastonbury. He sees the music and the painting as paradoxically complimentary. Despite their differences Bruce sees both as being entirely concerned with entertaining an audience with original material. Ian Bruce’s alterego is the singer of The Correspondents, a contemporary swing duo that have played in countless venues and festivals from the Globe Theatre to Glastonbury. He sees the music and the painting as paradoxically complimentary. Despite their differences Bruce sees both as being entirely concerned with entertaining an audience with original material.