About Me
Background
I was born and raised in the Connemara village of Cornamona located on the northern shores of Lough Corrib and now live in Galway city. I attended Galway Mayo Institute of Technology and graduated with a B.A (HONS) degree in Fine Art in 2004. I have been working at my art since and my work is currently on display at the following galleries: The Salamander Gallery in Belfast, The Sandford Gallery in Ranelagh, Dublin, The Leinster Gallery in Dublin 2, The Lavit Gallery in Cork, The Leamy Gallery in Limerick and The Purcell Gallery in Kenmare. It has also been acquired for private collections in Bermuda, California, New York and Scranton, Philadelphia.
My Work
Growing up in Connemara I have always been intrigued by the many and varied abandoned houses in this part of Ireland. Many have survived since famine times due to their thick stone walls and simple but solid structures. They have been vacated along the way for many reasons; emigration, hardship family lines dying off etc. To me they have a wonderful sense of history and mystery about them, and always seem full of character. They come from bygone eras, and in many instances stand side by side with modern day irish "bungalow bliss". Many of them are now used as sheds or cow byres. They can be a myriad of colours; in many cases the owners have had to use only whatever paint is on hand to maintain them. To me they are full of beauty, but always with a sense of desolation about them.
Because these buildings have a unique character due to their age and history, I have tried recently to use paint in different and inventive ways to capture the atmosphere that surrounds them. As well as using the traditional brush methods of applying paint, I have experimented, with techniques involving spilling, mopping and scraping back the paint, to create the shapes and moods that I associate with these beautiful yet mysterious structures
