Barry McGlashan was born in 1974 in Aberdeen on the North-East Coast of Scotland. McGlashan studied painting at Gray’s School of Art, graduating in 1996. He taught in the painting department at Gray’s between 1998 and 2005. In 2001, McGlashan was awarded The Alastair Salvesen Scholarship through the Royal Scottish Academy. Examples of his work are held in numerous private and public collections worldwide, including Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland; The Scottish Society, New York, USA; and the RSA, Edinburgh, Scotland. 


In December 2024 McGlashan was elected as one of four new Academicians of the Royal Scottish Academy, alongside Claire Barclay, Ken Currie and Caroline Walker. He lives and works in Edinburgh.