Todd Garner was born and raised in Southern California and has now been living and working as an artist in Glasgow for over 30 years.He began his higher education at Pasadena City College, California, where studied Design & Illustration. He then took a slight change in direction and enrolled to study Entomology at California State Polytechnic University. It was here he perfected his attention to detail and drawing. Todd then went on to do a BA in Painting at California State Polytechnic University in 1983 before finishing his MFA in Ceramics at California State University in 1988.
Originally moving to Scotland in the early 90s to pursue his passion for ceramics, Todd fell in love with Glasgow, its architecture and social surroundings. It was not long until Todd began recording his most loved locations by painting them into narratives. Pulling inspiration from the golden age of cinema and the continually changing narrative of human interactions, his figurative paintings tell a story in his iconic, retro-romantic style.
Working predominantly in acrylic, Todd’s paintings are sleek and embedded with pointers to the 1930s, his love of Art Deco and history. Scenes taken of the present day have a Ciné Noir mood to them that continue the painting style of Todd’s art-inspiration, Edward Hopper. Todd’s work is a wonderful blend of tales that incorporate the sitters' stories with the venue’s history. There is a slight auto-biographical element as he and his wife can be seen painted into scenes that they have both visited, including the RMS Queen Mary where they married. He continues to paint from his studio based in the centre of Glasgow whilst teaching Painting at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.