Alan McGowan has been a practising artist for over 30 years. His work has appeared in many significant exhibitions of contemporary figurative art, including the Scottish Portrait Awards (2017), the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Threadneedle Prize for Figurative Art, the Society of Portrait Sculptors exhibition, and the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait exhibition.He was a semi-finalist in the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year (2014), and his paintings are featured in the international INPA annual reviews (volumes 5, 6, and 7) published by Manifest in Cincinnati, USA. His work is held in the public collections of the Royal Scottish Academy, Stirling University and Art in Healthcare. He is also the recipient of the Wood Award (Visual Arts Scotland), the Bowie Award for Painting (Paisley Institute), and the Powderhall Foundry Award for sculpture.

McGowan has exhibited widely across the UK and internationally, including group exhibitions in South Korea, Portugal, Finland, Italy, the Czech Republic and the USA, and recently in A Bit of Brit at the Westbeth Gallery in New York.In addition to his studio practice, Alan teaches figure drawing, painting and anatomy for artists. He has taught at the Royal Academy (London), the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh College of Art, Dundee University, the Museum of London, the Royal Hibernian Academy (Dublin), Leith School of Art, and the Royal Collection Gallery at Holyrood Palace and of course the Schoolhouse for Art, Ireland.