Coming Home: Paintings by Carey Clarke
My great friend and former teacher Carey Clarke invited me to write the introduction to his exhibition of paintings at the Glebe Gallery in County Donegal which opened on August 20th 2023. Here is what I wrote, with some pictures from the exhibition. ‘Coming Home’ is the title of this exhibition, Carey Clarke’s first in…
Highlights from the RHA Annual Exhibition 2023
The Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition is the largest exhibition of contemporary art in Ireland. It is also the longest running: this is its 193rd year and the RHA itself, founded in 1823, is celebrating its bicentenary. The RHA Annual is also the largest open submission exhibition in Ireland. This year 4675 works were submitted,…
Siren
In mythology Sirens were female figures who lured sailors to their doom with their beautiful song. To some extent I see myself in this role as a painter, luring the viewer – not necessarily to his or her doom – with a visual ‘song’ as beautiful and heartfelt as I can make it. The pose…
Conversation with Joseph Bravo
This is a transcript of a Zoom conversation I had with American curator and art historian Joseph Bravo on September 5th 2020. We discussed the evolution of my work and the broader cultural scene. Joseph BravoLet me instead of making observations, first ask you some questions. For some time you’ve had an approach to narrative…
An exhibition of my figure paintings at Shorelines Arts Festival 2022
It was a great honour for me to have an exhibition of my figure paintings mounted at the Shorelines Arts Festival 2022. The festival (which has been running in Portumna since 2012) takes place every September, involving both local and internationally renowned artists in music, literature and visual culture. Portumna is a market town in…
A Portrait Marathon at Green Acres, Wexford
In July 2022, as part of Wexford’s ‘Art in the Open’ painting festival, I painted 28 portraits over three days. The event took place at Green Acres Gallery in Wexford Town. The portraits were painted in oils and took roughly half an hour. It’s certainly hard work painting so many portraits in such a short…
Interview with Irish artist Paul MacCormaic
A few weeks ago, I visited artist Paul MacCormaic’s exhibition, ICONS II at the Courthouse Art Centre in Tinahely and I talked to him about his work. Paul is a leading Irish representational painter whose portrait of Catherine Corless has recently been acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland. I hope you’ll take a little…
An appreciation of model Frank Stevens
Here’s a small note of appreciation for Frank Stevens, the model and inspiration for so many of my paintings. He modelled for my recently completed ‘Saint Jerome’ which I began twenty years ago, and about which several of you commented with humor on the slowness of my work and that the model was probably dead.…
Finishing a painting begun twenty years ago
While studying in Florence in my twenties my home was an attic room in a convent run by Irish nuns in Fiesole. It was called the convent of San Girolamo (or Saint Jerome), just up the hill from the Medici Villa. There were images of him everywhere. Jerome seemed to be one of the Renaissance…
Neoprimitive Narcissus
At the top of this painting, in the far distance, a rocket is launching into space. Two figures in the middle distance observe. Most of the picture is taken up with a naked figure ignoring this scene, crouched with his bum in the air, gazing at his own murky reflection in a pool of water.…