Paul McCloskey
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THE ARTIST:
Paul McCloskey was born in 1963 in Carrickmacross Co. Monaghan, Ireland. For the past ten years
Paul has been living and working in Gorey Co. Wexford. Paul attended the National College of
Art and Design (N.C.A.D) Dublin from 1981 and graduated with honours in 1986. He is visual
arts officer and a permanent teacher of art, craft and design at Gorey Community School and
he has been involved in art and design education for the past fourteen years. He has exhibited
widely throughout Ireland and has travelled and worked throughout Europe and Australia. Paul
has won an award for his painting from the Wexford Arts Centre, sponsored by the Lions Club
Wexford, as well as having his work very favourably reviewed by the Arts and Crafts Council
of Ireland.
In recent times Paul has been working in mixed media (Watercolour, ink and tempera). He likes
the freedom of choosing any one or combinations of media. His aim is to highlight the
aesthetic value of ordinary everyday subjects and to encourage the viewer to see
afresh-everyday subjects of their environment. Paul is a figurative painter with a distinctive
mixed media style. Colour plays a very important role in Paul's paintings, drawing the viewer
into key areas of the painting.
Paul believes the artist should stimulate and challenge the viewer to look and look again and
to gain a sense of feeling or reality when viewing art. It seems pointless to him to have a
language visual or otherwise in which nobody can understand or which is so personal to the
artist that it is beyond another interpretation. He feels Painting as a visual medium should
be visual and not require catalogues of text in order to be appreciated. The majority of
people are relatively visually literate and if they trust their own instincts about what
they are viewing they will find themselves quite capable of judging painting. He feels that
an artist must remain true to him/herself and not just follow the fleeting fashions in the
visual arts, in order to be in vogue as this further isolates the viewer, which encourages
pretentiousness which is often associated with the arts. He welcomes the challenge of all
subject matter that takes his interest, from portraits to landscape.
Recently Paul has had considerable success with his portraits. His portraits are renowned for
their striking likeness but with a distinctiveness and depth of their own, attempting to look
beyond the superficial into the heart of the subject.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
1994 "Lough Derg" (Kavanagh Heritage Centre, Monaghan) Permanent collection
1994 "Monaghan Artists" (Carrickmacross Co., Monaghan)
1995 "Art with a View" (Wexford Co. Council public works. A shortlisted exhibition of six
artists)
1995 "Wexford Showcase" (Arts centre, Wexford)
1995 "Christmas Show" (Woodland arts and crafts gallery, Gorey)
1996 "Opera festival show" - Solo Exhibition - (Sponsored by Guinness, Ireland and The Arts
Council, Ireland)
1997 Group show (Watch House Gallery, Enniscorthy)
1997 "Lions Club" (Arts Centre, Wexford)
1998 "Award winners exhibition" (Wexford Arts Centre, sponsored by Lions club.)
1999 "Gorey Summer Fair" (Solo Exhibition)
2000 "CELTIC CONNECTIONS" (Sponsored by The Arts Council Ireland.) A Welsh/Irish
exchange exhibition of five shortlisted artists, Fishguard, Wales
2000 "Lions Club exhibition" (Wexford Arts Centre)
2000 "Comhairle Bhaile Cheanntair" (Public works) Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Norma Smurfit Collection (Davis Gallery Dublin)
Irish Bank of Commerce, Dublin
RTE Design Studios, Dublin
Kavanagh Heritage Centre, Monaghan
Connemara Design Centre
Education Centre, Dublin
"Comhairle Bhaile Cheanntair" (Public works) Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan
PERSONAL WEBSITE:
Click here to link to artist's website
EMAIL:
