Self, pet and a bathtub is a triangle of elements arranged as a composition in this oil on linen painting whose title is also the title of the whole show.
The bathtub is from my locality at the fields around my studio in county Donegal where farmers arrange bathtubs arbitrarily on the landscape for their cows and bulls to drink from. Once an intimate function in a household now these are curious shapes in open spaces resembling alienation and corrosion on their way back to the elements of metal and earth.
Fish in my visual language is an ancient creature that reflects the antiquity of species, the fish as a pet is pulling its owner into the deep water of the prehistorical unknown.
The self of his portrait is located on the top of a ladder or a bike where, in spite of the rapid pace of an advanced evolution, a strong cord through his pet connects him to his deeper portrait in the unknown.
There are many elements in the paintings in this exhibition like written surfaces, levitation, climbing and taking off, these items and motions which I like to paint mean a lot to me on a deep level and their presence also motivates me to work, but in the same time I cannot say that I know exactly why they are there.
For example the painting ‘Farewell to a Loved One’, an oil on canvas, dedicated to my late mother: the painting is a letter to her, its visual language feels like a completion of a message or a prayer whose nature and exact content I cannot tell, though as a painting it means everything to me. Or the painting ‘Water’, an oil on canvas, where fish go back to their natural habitat in the ocean while a cat examines water in a bathtub, these painted things and directions merge on a deep level and their presence can be interpreted in many ways, but the composition and my effort to paint it to the best of my ability feel good and this is my main concern as an artist.
My series of paintings ‘Climb’ that signify ascension and transcendence merge with the series of pet and bathtub paintings and they should be viewed as a one body of work, the connection is ephemeral and mysterious, I feel good about these compositions and about the paintings as a body of work and executing them as paintings to the best of my ability is very important to me.
The two vertical ‘Mood with Pet’ paintings are from my series of Moods paintings where I examine and express moods after my own face, these are self-portrait style paintings and as such they connect with the theme of this exhibition. ‘Mood with Pet’ is a Self Portrait with Pet, executed as oil on linen with gold leaf at the background covered with oil paint in which a body of writing is inscribed to reveal the gold though the letters. If, after the age of forty, we deserve the face we have, then I find great meaning in studying my face and in this way I connect the series of Mood paintings to ‘Self Portrait with a Pet and a Bathtub’ to make this exhibition an integral body of work that also includes two paintings of my favourite places in Dublin, one of them is a ‘mood’ after my own figure reading a book on a bench at the Iveagh Gardens.
The element of ‘climb’, the paintings with ladders, express transcendence in different forms and contexts, it can be evolution in the animal kingdom and it is also another kind of evolution, that of a metaphysical meditation as with my philosophy books on the ladder in ‘Climb 7’, and with my own person on a ladder, a transcending mood, pulled by my pet into my unconscious prehistorical past, in ‘Self Portrait with a Pet and a Bathtub’.
About the artist
EDUCATION
2007-2009: Masters in Fine Art Print, National College of Art & Design, Dublin
2002-2006: BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art Print, National College of Art & Design, Dublin
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
• Self Portrait with a Pet and a Bathtub, the Oliver Cornet Gallery Dublin 2025
• Intimate Landscapes, Custom House Studios Westport County Mayo, 2024
• Compassion, Meditation at Fishtree, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, 2015
• Dreamcompositions, etchings and lithographs at Portarlington Library, 2012
• Spirit of the Ocean, paintings and prints, MFA Graduation, NCAD, 2009
• Exhibition of paintings at the Mews-CAP Foundation Dublin, 2007
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
• Royal Hibernian Academy, invited painting
• ‘Not About the Rain’, a group exhibition in Lithuania of invited Graphic Studio Members
• ‘Mor’, a group exhibition of new large-scale prints at Graphic Studio Gallery Dublin
• Boyle Arts Festival, invited artist
• Graphic Studio Dublin group exhibition of fine art prints at Farmleigh Gallery
2024
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 194th Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• ‘Visual Presence’, Boyle Arts Festival
• New work at Summer show Graphic Studio Dublin
• ‘Echoes of Home’, exhibition of fine art prints at RHA Dublin
• ‘Love Letter to Dublin’ new etchings winter show at Graphic Studio Dublin
• End of year exhibition at Custom House Studio Gallery Westport
2023
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 193rd Annual Exhibition, 200 year, Dublin
• Summer show Graphic Studio Dublin
• ‘Home Again: The Art of Belonging’ a Graphic Studio Exhibition in collaboration with the Simon Communities of Ireland at the RHA
• Winter show Graphic Studio Dublin
2022
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 192nd Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• Ulysses Imagined, hundred years to the publication of James Joyce’s book, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin
• Past, Present and Future, Boyle Arts Festival
• 16th International Print Triennial Graphica Creativa, Untold Artists’ Stories, IVVÄsKYLÄN TAIDEMUSEC ART MUSEUN, Jyväskylän, Finland
• Cultural Natures, Ranelagh Arts Centre, Dublin
• Returning Home, a Graphic Studio Exhibition in collaboration with the Simon Communities of Ireland
2021
• The Art of Home, a Graphic Studio Exhibition in collaboration with the Simon Communities of Ireland
• Diamond Point, Celebrating 60 years of the Graphic Studio, Blue House Gallery, Cork
2020
• ‘Diamond Point’, Graphic Studio Dublin celebrating 60 years, group exhibition at the Gallery
• Summer group exhibition, Graphic Studio Gallery
• Winter group exhibition, Graphic Studio Gallery
• Hyde Bridge Gallery Sligo group exhibition of prints
• Green Acres Gallery Wexford exhibition of prints
2019
• Impressions, Galway multi-disciplinary Fine Art print Biennial
• Legacy, 30th Anniversary Exhibition, Boyle Arts Festival
• Irish Art Now, Contemporary Art Auction, Pallas Projects, Dublin
2018
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 188th Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• One-Off, three-person exhibition, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin
• Gathering, King’s House, Boyle Arts Festival
• Artform Annual Exhibition, 44 The Quay, Waterford
2017
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 187th annual exhibition, Dublin
• Facing West, Boyle Arts Festival
2016
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 186th Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• Song-Lines, two-person exhibition with Niall Naessens, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo
• Legacy, the National Fine Art Print Exhibition at the Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo (prize winning entry)
• Waterbased and Other Stories, group exhibition of prints, Glor, Ennis
• Two person exhibition of etchings and work on paper at Custom House Studios Gallery, Westport
2015
• Royal Hibernian Academy, 185th Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• Royal Ulster Academy, 134th Annual Exhibition, Belfast
• Impressions 15, Biennial printmaking exhibition at the Centre for Creative Art and Media, Galway
2014
• Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• Three-person exhibition of paintings, Claremorris Gallery
2013
• Royal Hibernian Academy, Annual Exhibition, Dublin
• A Natural Selection, Graphic Studio Gallery, Botanical Gardens, Dublin
2012
• Winter Exhibition, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin
2011
• Royal Ulster Academy, Annual exhibition, Belfast
• Winter & Summer Exhibition, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin
2010
• Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
• ‘Fiction’, two-person exhibition, The Back Loft, Dublin
• Gold, 50th Anniversary Graphic Studio Members’ Exhibition, Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin
• Impressions, a biannual multidisciplinary fine art print exhibition Galway Arts Centre, Galway
2009
• Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast
• Exhibition of paintings and prints, Gerard Manly Hopkins International Art & Poetry Festival, Monasteravin, Co. Kildare
2008
• ‘Impressions’, Biennial Print Exhibition, Galway Arts Centre
• Interim exhibition of prints, MFA
2007
• Boyle Arts Festival, Co. Roscommon
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
• Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Award, 2023
• Arts Grant Award from Donegal County Council, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2018
• Winner of K&M Evans Prize for Painting at the Royal Hibernian Academy 187th Annual Exhibition, 2017
• Winner of the Professional Artist Category of the inaugural ‘Legacy’ National Fine Art Print Competition, Sligo, 2016
• The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, residency, 2017
• Centre d Art i Natura de Ferrera, Pyrenees, Spain, 2015
• Arts Grant Award from Kildare County Council, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012
• The Heinrich Boll Cottage, Residency, 2014
• First Prize, Impressions, Biennial Multidisciplinary Printmaking Exhibition, Galway Arts Centre, 2010
• The CAP Foundation Award, 2006
COLLECTIONS
Office of Public Works; Galway County Council; CAP Foundation; Botanic Gardens Dublin; IVVÄsKYLÄN TAIDEMUSEC ART MUSEUN, Jyväskylän, Finland; National College of Art and Design Dublin, Imago Mundi, National Library of Ireland, The British National Library, IPUT Real Estate Dublin, HLB Ireland, private collections in Ireland, USA, Europe, Australia and Israel
Coverage:
- Irish Arts Review, Art Exhibitions, Autumn 2025 Edition.
- What’s on Guide, Fine Art, Philip Carton, Business Post, 28 September 2025
