Artist turns Glaswegian nostalgia into gallery art

Glasgow artist Trackie McLeod has opened a new exhibition called 'Soft Play' in the south of England.

Trackie McLeod has spent the past decade turning images and humour from his Glasgow roots into gallery art.

The 32-year-old says his work is heavily influenced by nostalgia surrounding his working class childhood in Whiteinch in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Now he's showcasing his latest work in the south of England where some references don't always translate but he says the wider themes do.

The Trackie Times art pieces are locally recognisable, as they use familiar slang and nostalgic references.

"Being Scottish is part of my identity," Trackie says.

"I love Scottish patter, I love Scottish humour, I love Scottish vocabulary, it's something so specific to us."

His previous exhibitions in Glasgow showcased references to sayings or traditions that only people from Scotland would understand but he says he knew he would have to adapt his work to become better known on the UK art circuit.

"I don't want to alienate people," he said, "but I think nostalgia is a transferable thing."

For his latest exhibition, at a famous art gallery in Sussex, the work is less specifically Scottish, and focuses more on the shared experience of working class youth.

Apart from one specific phrase.

"One of the things says 'No wee dafties'," he says.

"It's a thing northern English people would know but down south at the opening night, they were like 'what is a dafty'?"

The term 'dafty' became a topic of discussion at an English exhibition.

His new exhibition is at the Charleston in Lewes, a prestigious institution with connections to the famed Bloomsbury artists Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry and Duncan Grant.

"It's a weird world to find yourself in sometimes," Trackie says.

"These sort of exhibitions and the people that you meet, it's just not where I'm from by any means."

Despite the differences, he says he is determined to bring his humour and perspective into spaces that often feel closed off to people like him.

"All I can do is show up, be myself, and be authentic", he says.

'Soft Play' recreates spaces such as community centres and parks that working class youth spend time in.

His new show 'Soft Play' recreates the parks and community looks at places where people like him hung out in their youth.

"Nostalgia is an overarching theme of my work, and its always going to be," he says.

"It's an overview of growing up in the West of Scotland, the status quo at the time."

Each exhibit toys with the idea of play and how for Trackie being working class can mean growing up too soon.

A central piece of the show recreates a child's climbing frame with razor wire, commonly associated with restricted areas such as prisons or industrial sites, strewn across the top.

"I felt like as an adult and as an artist, I don't really have enough play in my life," he says.

"You stop really playing when you're a teenager because it becomes uncool.

"You start playing like an adult, you start underage drinking, you start vandalising, getting up to no good, doing things that you think will make you seem older than you are."

The exhibition is in Lewes in East Sussex

'You start playing like an adult'

His piece The Hardy Brothers, which features well known wrestling characters from his youth, shows how childhood play can quickly turn into more grown-up behaviour.

"Wrestling for a lot of young boys is their first introduction to fighting," he says.

"It's meant to be play-fighting but then as time goes on, as an early teenager, fighting is something you take seriously.

"You're fighting in the streets at the weekend or you're fighting with your pals."

Toxic masculinity became a focus for Trackie's summer billboard project, which became a tool for education.

This mix of nostalgia and his personal experience with toxic masculinity as a queer man in the west of Scotland drives some of his best known work.

Earlier this year, Trackie's message "Boys will be what we teach them to be" appeared on billboards throughout the UK in response to growing concerns about online misogyny, lad culture and male role models.

The nostalgic Nokia-style display, paired with the trendy Brat Summer green and its powerful message, went viral online.

"I don't think anyone's born evil," he says.

"We're products of our environment. Boys aren't born to be women-hating incels, that's a product of society."

In response to the work, teachers contacted Trackie to say they were using it in classrooms to start conversations about masculinity and respect.

"That's the dream," he says. "That your work becomes a tool to educate and make people think about themselves."

"We're products of our environment," said Trackie.

Trackie's work has also reached beyond galleries.

He has collaborated with sportwear firm Nike, who are featuring his designs in their Glasgow store, and with drink maker Irn-Bru, creating flags inspired by its adverts.

Public figures such as Scottish actor James McAvoy and Sharleen Spiteri from Glasgow band Texas have worn clothing with his art on them, bringing a wider audience to the humour and nostalgia rooted in his Glasgow upbringing.

Trackie remains focused on authenticity, while he takes on different projects.

Despite these high-profile projects, Trackie remains focused on authenticity and challenging barriers in the art world.

"Nothing's going to change unless galleries start giving space to working-class, queer, POC (people of colour) and trans people," he says.

"A lot of galleries pretend to do that, but they don't. I'm trying to break through that ceiling."

Trackie's Soft Play exhibition is open until April 2026 at Charleston.