{"id":335717,"date":"2025-12-26T00:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T00:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/335717\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T00:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T00:33:17","slug":"scottish-artist-ross-muir-unveils-latest-work-paying-tribute-to-billy-connolly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/335717\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish artist Ross Muir unveils latest work paying tribute to Billy Connolly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scottish artist Ross Muir\u00a0has unveiled a brand new painting paying tribute to one of Scotland\u2019s most cherished cultural figures, Sir Billy Connolly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Launched on Christmas Eve, Billy Cone-lly marks the first time Muir has ever painted Connolly, despite having grown up watching, listening\u00a0to\u00a0and quoting him throughout his life.<\/p>\n

The painting brings together two instantly\u00a0recognisable\u00a0Glasgow icons: Billy Connolly himself, and the long-running tradition of placing a traffic cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington statue\u00a0outside GoMA in Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square.<\/p>\n

Billy Cone-lly\u00a0depicts a smiling Connolly with the cone proudly perched atop his head, set against Muir\u2019s trademark bursts of bold\u00a0colour\u00a0and expressive paintwork.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/p>\n

Sir Billy Connolly makes rare public appearance to pick up top honour<\/a><\/p>\n

Peter Kay shares update on Sir Billy Connolly’s health<\/a><\/p>\n

What today’s wild swimmers can learn from Billy Connolly’s swimming in the North Sea<\/a><\/p>\n

The artist said: \u201cBilly is such a massive cultural icon that, if\u00a0I\u2019m being\u00a0honest,\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0always been a bit nervous about painting him.<\/p>\n

“But this just felt like the right time and the right context. After the year a lot of people have had, we could all do with more Billy \u2013 his\u00a0humour,\u00a0lightness\u00a0and spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new work follows a standout year for Muir. In October, he released Cona-Lisa\u00a0– his Glaswegian reworking of the Mona Lisa, which sold out quickly and drew widespread attention.<\/p>\n

More recently, his collaborative work Two Sons, created alongside renowned Scottish painter Peter Howson, was also a sell-out success, adding to a growing body of work that blends humour,\u00a0resilience\u00a0and working-class Scottish identity.<\/p>\n

Billy Cone-lly\u00a0continues that theme, celebrating not just a man, but a shared cultural icon.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit: rossmuirart.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottish artist Ross Muir\u00a0has unveiled a brand new painting paying tribute to one of Scotland\u2019s most cherished cultural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,130620,69658,130621,1120,96,130622,130623,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-335717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-billy-cone-lly","12":"tag-billy-connolly","13":"tag-cultural-icon","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-ross-muir","17":"tag-scottish-artist","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}