YORK College Gallery is exhibiting the work of Scottish artist Gordon Brennan, head of painting at Edinburgh College of Art.

His Boxed Set show focuses on his interest in toys, graphic design and paraphernalia from the 1950s in paintings that use enamel paint to give them a very industrial look, although the artist’s hand is ever present within the work.

Gordon, who was born in Edinburgh in 1956, trained initially as a tapestry weaver before studying at Edinburgh College of Art.

He has since taught across a range of subjects and levels while also exhibiting painting, drawing, printmaking, artist’s books and sculpture in Britain and internationally.

His latest show has multiple interpretations, he said. “The work could relate to the workings from the box of my studio tipped out and reconfigured. It could allude to the idea that the work has visual parallels with toys, puzzles or construction kits and what can I make from the contents?

“It could be that I’ve been thinking outside the box, but really I quite like the box so why would I think outside it?”

The much-overused term “thinking outside the box” is backwards, Gordon argues. “Transformation is best realised through understanding of what is inside, inside my head, my studio, my interests, my limitations and my not knowing,” he said.

“It could be that the work relates back to the fundamental building blocks we use in childhood, how things are made, how they fit together, repeated units, what happens when one form/colour/surface meets another.

“There is the idea of collecting, collecting them all, displaying, lining them up, creating a narrative or a typology from repeated forms; these ideas allude to the way I initially made sense of my surroundings and I continue to employ these strategies through a form of play.”

The same contents are reordered and repackaged by Gordon; nothing new is added. “I work with what I have, what I have been given and with what I am,” he said.

The York College gallery is run by Steven Anderson, who teaches fine art on the foundation diploma course in art and design. He said: “We’re delighted to have the work of Gordon Brennan in our gallery.

“It’s a fantastic exhibition and one that should have a wide appeal.”

Gordon will return to York College on January 31 to spend the day with students and run a group critique about their work and his. “That will be really exciting,” said Steven.

“Each year our students are successful in gaining a place at Edinburgh College of Art to study art and design courses. Gordon told me they have 8,000 applicants for their degree programmes, so the fact that York College places students there is amazing and this exhibition is a celebration of the links the college has developed with them over the years.”

• Gordon Brennan’s Boxed Set exhibition runs at York College Gallery until January 31.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and Saturdays, 9am to 12 noon.

The private-view closing event on January 31 will be a chance to meet the artist between 5pm and 7pm. Admission is free.