The Hennessy Portrait Prize 2016 shortlist

These are the 14 shortlisted artists in the Hennessy Portrait Prize 2016. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 29th at the National Gallery in Dublin. An exhibition featuring all the finalists is now on at the gallery

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Peter Bradley, Bruja, 2016.

Peter Bradley was born in Galway, Ireland in 1981. Bradley works predominantly in the medium of painting, but credits drawing, collage and photography as important elements of his studio practice. Bradley completed a BA in painting, with first class honours, at the Limerick School of Art and Design in 2014. He has shown work in a number of exhibitions including Foundation15 in Tullamore; The Royal Ulster Academy 134th Annual Exhibition (2015); and twice at the RDS Student Art Awards, where he received the R.C. Lewis Crosby Award for Painting in 2013. Bradley lives and works in Galway.

Paul James Kearney, Tom, Bath, Towel, 2016.

Paul James Kearney addresses portraiture, urban environments and social encounters through an amalgamation of painting and drawing. Born in Galway, he completed his BFA in Contemporary Painting under the tuition of Blaise Drummond in 2014. In 2015 he completed his MA in Arts Policy & Practice at NUIG. Kearney has exhibited in Ireland and internationally, and has works held in public, corporate and private collections internationally. He has had a solo exhibition at Farmleigh House, Dublin, and has taken part in group exhibitions at 126 Gallery, Galway; 14 Henrietta Street, Dublin; the Cong Art Gallery, Co. Mayo; Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn; and Galerie Iliev, Köln. He currently lives and works in Galway.

Fergus A. Ryan, Harold, 2016.

Fergus Andrew Ryan is a realist painter born in Dublin in 1948. His finely-detailed paintings have been exhibited at the RHA and RUA, included in the OPW’s State collection, and featured in International Artist magazine. Influenced by the thoughtful works of Andrew Wyeth and contemporary Madrid realists Antonio López and Isabel Quintanilla, the artist has studied with Israel Hershberg in northern Lazio, and spent the spring of 2015 at the Florence Academy of Art. Fergus was formerly an Aer Lingus pilot on long-haul 707 and 747 operations in North America, Africa and the Middle East. He is married to Sarah.

Gerry Davis, Seán, 2015.

Originally from Cahir, Co. Tipperary, Gerry Davis graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design in 2009 with a degree in Fine Art (painting). He has been exhibiting regularly since, including What Has Been Shall Always Never Be Again at Ormston House, and a solo show Burrow, at TACTIC. In 2016, in addition to being awarded a merit prize at the Golden Fleece Award, Davis exhibited at the 186th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, and at a three man show The Forest that Hears and the Field that Sees in Damer House, Roscrea. His solo show Studio, was held at Pallas Projects, Dublin in October 2016.

John Lee (Laoi), Má under light, 2016.

John Lee was born in Ireland in 1974. His father was a psychiatrist and a painter, and his mother was a public health nurse. ‘I grew up painting alongside my father. When I was a child, the air was always heavy with the smell of linseed and turps. Still is.’ Lee studied classical animation in Dublin. He has travelled extensively around Europe, basing himself for long periods of time in Berlin, where he worked in the animation business and as an artist. Lee attributes his way of painting to his father, but he is also influenced by Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Hans Bellmer, Egon Schiele, Gustave Klimt and Odd Nerdrum.

Leanne Mullen, Someone’s Mother, 2016.

Leanne Mullen works and lives in Co. Louth. She graduated from NCAD and achieved an MA from the University of Ulster, Belfast. She has exhibited at Basement Gallery group show, Dundalk, 2016; Powerscourt Townhouse, Dublin; Omagh Tourist Board group show; Dublin Airport permanent sculpture exhibition; Elmwood Gallery, Belfast; RDS shows; and Naas tourist office. She works regularly to private and corporate commission.

Regina Carbayo, Abuelo Pepe, 2016.

Regina Carbayo was born in Cádiz, Spain. She graduated with an MA in Art Production and a BA in Fine Art from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. She moved to Cork in 2013 to undertake an internship at the Crawford Art Gallery. Since then, she has been combining her work as an artist, participating in many different shows in Spain and Ireland, while working as an art workshop facilitator for children at the Glucksman Gallery, Cork, and as a visual artist at Graffiti Theatre Company, Cork. Carbayo’s work can be found in the collections of the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork and the Terence MacSwiney Museum, Kilmurry, Co. Cork.

Stephen Johnston, Jennifer, 2016.

Johnston was born in 1987 in Co. Down, graduating with a BA in Fine and Applied Arts from the University of Ulster in 2010. He paints full-time and has won the De Veres Art Award and the Towry Award - best from Northern Ireland at the NOAC. He has exhibited work in Belfast, Dublin, London, Paris and Australia. His inspiration comes from the poetry of everyday life, and from contemporary artists such as Michaël Borremans, David Kassan and Alyssa Monks. Old Masters including Caravaggio, Rembrandt and J.M.W. Turner also provide inspiration.

Tom Mclean, Waiting Room, 2016.

Tom McLean is a painter and illustrator from Stradbally, Co. Laois. He recently graduated from the Centre for Creative Arts & Media, GMIT, with an honours degree in Fine Art, specialising in painting. He has been longlisted for the RDS Visual Artist Award and was a finalist in the Screaming Pope Prize, 2016. McLean has exhibited throughout Ireland, and his work can be found in private collections in Ireland and abroad. He currently lives and works in Galway.

Catherine Creaney, This Too Will Pass, 2015.

Catherine Creaney is a self-taught artist born in Dungannon. She has featured in many group exhibitions in the UK and Ireland including the Royal Hibernian Annual Exhibition, Dublin; the Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Belfast; and the Derwent Art Prize, London. She has received several awards for her work including the ESB Keating Award, and silver medal for an outstanding art work at the 185th Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition in 2015. Creaney has also twice won the Drawing Prize and the Rowel Friers Perpetual Trophy at the Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition in 2011 and 2014.

Angus Massey, Twenty First Century Portrait Artist, 2016.

Angus Massey explores themes such as the relationship between consciousness and reality, and the revival of the Divine Feminine. His sculpture is a hybrid of figurative work, geometric structure and the synthesis of two- and three-dimensional media into a united whole, using shadow, reflection or video projection in a fusion with concrete physical form. After attending Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design, Massey moved to Italy where he spent the following years working as an assistant to various artists, and learning the traditional sculptural practices of stone carving and bronze casting. His influences include Neolithic carvers, Renaissance artists such as Verrocchio, and the subversive art of Duchamp. Massey currently lives in Berlin where he also works with installation and typography.

Kim Haughton, Gabriel Byrne, from the series ‘Portrait of a Century’, 2015.

Kim Haughton is a photographic artist based between Dublin and New York. She holds her MA in Documentary Photography from University of the Arts, London. In 2015, she held her first solo exhibition at the Gallery of Photography, Dublin, and was nominated for the Prix Pictet Award. Her images have appeared in publications worldwide including The Sunday Times Magazine, FT Magazine and Vanity Fair. She was named by TIME magazine as one of the top nine Irish photographers to watch. Recently, her work has been exhibited at the Solomon Fine Art Gallery, Dublin (July 2016), and at the Irish Consulate in New York (May 2016, September 2016).

Vera Ryklova, Untitled #5001, from the series ‘Aesthetic Distance’, 2015.

Vera Ryklova is an emerging artist, based in Dublin. She studied photography at IADT Dún Laoghaire, graduating with a BA (Hons) in 2015. With a background in education, she is developing her practice as a lens-based artist and her current works are focused on the relationship between photography, performance and the sociology of the self. A review of her project Aesthetic Distance was featured in Source, among eighteen Graduate Photography Online 2015 selected works. Born in 1974, originally from the Czech Republic, Ryklova was brought to Ireland on a journey of personal discovery and since 2007 lives and works there.

Fri Nov 25 2016 - 14:42

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