Frank McFadden talks frankly about addiction

Artist Frank McFadden has opened up recently about his addiction and road to recovery in a feature by the BBC.

The world of art has an exceptionally high number of addicts and people who suffer from mental illness, with recent polls putting the number of those experiencing long term issues from mental health and addictive disorders at over 50%. I spoke with an artist recently about the matter and he stated anecdotally he didn’t know it was “so low”, he went on to elaborate that almost everyone he knew in the art world had a substance abuse issue.

Frank McFadden is an artist from Glasgow, unfortunately Glasgow has been making headlines for the past 3 decades as a city synonymous with drug usage. Per capita Glasgow often sees drug deaths well exceeding the European average.

Frank McFadden has seen his fair share of the front line on the battlefield of addiction. His 1990’s downward spiral into heroin addiction lasted a span of ten years, which he describes himself as being unemployable and close to death. During his addiction he had to sell the Big Issue magazine on the streets in order to fund his habit.

Now Frank McFadden is one of Scotland’s leading artists and his work is viewed by UK galleries and all over the world.

Watch him talk about his addiction and road to recovery here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09gq5jp