Artist painted Glasgow art school fire scene five years before it happened

An artist from Glasgow has revealed he drew a seemingly prophetic painting of Glasgow’s art school ablaze five years before it happened.

Jack McLean, 51, created the piece, entitled What If, in 2009 while studying at Glasgow School of Art.

Eerily, the painting starkly resembles the scenes encountered by firefighters and onlookers as the historic Mackintosh building burned more than a week ago.

It shows flames leaping from the windows as smoke billows out over the Glasgow skyline.

Jack, who now lives in Tokyo, Japan, said the drawing was a reaction to the importance given to the Mac building over all other buildings in Glasgow.

He said: “Glasgow has lost so many old beautiful buildings over the years to arson and developers that the city is rapidly losing its unique character.

“Every time I return to Glasgow something else has gone only to be replaced by a bland, concrete and glass box. It is becoming an ugly city.”

He said he came up with the idea after a fireman friend told him about a small fire he put out on the roof of the Mac some time before 2008.

He said: “The fire was quickly extinguished and my friend turned to the worker and said, ‘You were almost the most hated man in Scotland’.

However, Jack denied there was anything prophetic in his painting.

He said: “The GSA was known as a tinder box, it was only a matter of time.

“I’m very sad that it has happened and I feel very sorry for the students who have lost their work, all we can do is be thankful that no one was killed or injured and the building was not burned to the ground.”