I paint mainly in oils and acrylics, principally figurative, with a strong interest in the dynamics of the natural world. My love of nature, the countryside and wild places has been hugely inspirational, in particular my surroundings in the uplands of Wicklow close to home. A keen hill walker, bird watcher and falconer, I have roamed these hills for many years. It never ceases to amaze how it inspires every time. While outdoors I take photos, sketch, sometimes paint, often finishing small works on site. Generally these are prompts, ways of gathering information in preparation for larger paintings completed in the studio.

Through paint and mark making, I aim to capture how I feel about the subject, drawing on observation, my experience, memories and feelings I wish to convey. Light, colour, atmosphere and movement are central roles in my creative process. It’s important to keep the work fresh and alive with spontaneity so as not to become overworked. Current work is influenced by the ever-changing landscape, the past, cycles of nature and the way everything returns. I have discovered it is often the less obvious or neglected aspects of our environment that triggers a starting point. If the viewer connects to the essence, or is moved by some beauty or passage in my painting, then it’s working.

PROFILE

Born in Dublin in 1957, Seamus O’Byrne has been painting and exhibiting regularly for the past forty years. Primarily self-taught, in the early 1980’s he attended night classes at NCAD, Life Drawing at Trinity Workshop Dublin and Lithography at Dublin Graphic Studios. Seamus worked with the ESB from 1974 as an apprentice, electrician and draughtsman until he availed of redundancy in 2007 to continue his art career full time. As an artist, his early work consisted of solitary figures, still lives and political subject matter. His move to West Wicklow in 1991 had a profound influence on his art practice, where, his love of nature and the landscape came to the fore and continues to inspire his work to this day. He kept a studio off Dublin’s North Strand 1980–1991, was secretary of Figurative Image national group of artists 1989-1992, attended a Critical Art Writing course in Gorey School of Art 2019-2020 and is presently a committee member of Dunlavin Arts Festival and member of Visual Artists Ireland.

AWARDS

2019 Hanley Energy Award for Landscape, 189th RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin

2011 First Prize, International Falconry Festival Art Competition, Abu Dhabi, hosted by the UAE

2008 Fergus O’Ryan RHA Memorial Award, 178th RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin

1981 First Prize, CDL National Adult Art Competition, Ireland

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017 Recent Paintings, Blue Door Gallery, Dunlavin Arts Festival, Co Wicklow

2015 Hidden Glen/ Loft Paintings, Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo

2012 Above Hollywood, Blue Door Gallery, Dunlavin Arts Festival

2011 Wicklow / Sligo Paintings, Blue Door Gallery, Dunlavin Arts Festival

2008 New Work, Blue Door Gallery, Dunlavin Arts Festival

1985 Grafton Gallery, South Annes Lane, Dublin

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
RUA Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin Impressions, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo.
Dunlavin Arts Festival, Market House, Co. Wicklow (annualy since 1992)

2022
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
Tuckmill Gallery, Naas, Co. Kildare (since 1995)

2021
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin Gormleys Art Gallery, Dublin (since 2015) Meditations in Times of Civil War, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo

2020
Among School Children, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo Winter Show, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo

2019
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin (award winner) Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo / The Irish Centre, New York, USA
RUA Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Co Roscommon Opera Festival, Greenacres Gallery, Wexford Straight Out Of Ireland, Philadelphia, USA

2018
Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Co. Roscommon. An Airman Foresees His Death, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo. The Garden, Burtown House, Co. Kildare.
Kilcock Art Gallery, Co. Kildare

2017
Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Co Roscommon Crazy Jane, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo

2016
RUA Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast Winter Show, Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo A Terrible Beauty is Born, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo

2015
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin McKenna Gallery, Omagh, Co. Tyrone VUE Contemporary Art Fair, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin Gormleys Art Gallery, Dublin (to 2021)

2014
RSA Open, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland International Falconry Festival, Abu Dhabi, UAE (invited) RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin VUE Contemporary Art Fair, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin McKenna Gallery, Omagh, Co. Tyrone Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin (since 2001)

2013
All Ireland Show, Gordon Gallery, Derry (UK City of Culture invited artist) RUA Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast Kilkenny Arts Festival, Blackbird Gallery

2012
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
Kilcock Art Gallery, Co. Kildare
Blackbird Gallery, Kilkenny

2011
International Falconry Festival Art Competition, Abu Dhabi, UAE (first prize)
Open, Greenacres Gallery, Wexford. Artaid (War on Want) Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast
Kilcock Art Gallery, Co. Kildare

2010
RSA Open, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, Scotland
Small Works Big Vision, Kilcock Art Gallery, Co. Kildare
Sligo Landscapes, Cat & Moon Gallery, Sligo

2009
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
RUA Annual Exhibition, The Northern Bank, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Cat and Moon Gallery, Sligo
Kilcock Art Gallery, Co. Kildare

2008
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin (award winner)
RUA Annual Exhibition, Titanic Offices, Belfast, Northern Ireland Oireachtas, Vision Centre, Cork
Kilcock Art Gallery. Co. Kildare
Cat & Moon Gallery, Sligo

2007
Inniscarra Gallery, Rathcoole, Co. Kildare (to 2018)

2005
Greenstar Open, Mermaid Arts Centre, Wicklow

2003
Nudes, Blueleaf Gallery, Dublin

2002
North West Artists, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo

2001
North West Artists, Model Arts Centre, Sligo
Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin (to 2014).

2000
Kilcock Art Gallery, Co. Kildare

1999
Iontas, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo / West Cork Arts Centre, Co. Cork

1998
Iontas, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo / RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin / Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin

1997
Iontas, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin / Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast / West Cork Arts Centre, Co. Cork
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
Nudes, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin

1996
RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
Two Artists, The Gallery, Blessington, Co. Wicklow (with Trevor Geoghegan)

1995
Tuckmill Gallery, Naas Co. Kildare (to 2022)

1992
Dunlavin Arts Festival, Market House, Co. Wicklow (annually to 2022)

1991
Figurative Image, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin / The Irish Club, Brussels, Belgium May Day Exhibition, Liberty Hall, Dublin

1989
Oireachtas, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin

1988
Celtic Vision, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin (invited) Oireachtas, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin.
Figurative Image, Royal Hospital Kilmainham (now IMMA, invited)

1987
Oireachtas, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin Grafton Gallery, Dublin

1986
Independent Artists, Guinness Hop Store, Dublin / Municipal Gallery, Limerick Arnotts Portrait Award, Dublin
Oireachtas, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin
Grafton Gallery, Dublin

1985
Arnotts Portrait Award, Dublin Grafton Gallery, Dublin

1984
Independent Artists, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin Oireachtas, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin
Opening Exhibition, Grafton Gallery, Dublin

1983
Oireachtas, Bank of Ireland, Dublin / Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick
Four Artists, The Gallery, University College Galway

1982
Exposure III, The Ilac Centre, Dublin
Four Artists, Holy Cross Abbey, Co. Tipperary
The Works, Grapevine Arts Centre, Dublin (invited)

1981
Exposure II, Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin
CDL Art Competition Exhibition, RDS, Dublin (first prize)

COLLECTIONS

Goodbodys
Hanley Energy
Smurfit School of Business, UCD
Guinness Peat Aviation
Henniges Group
HSE St Mary’s Hospital
HSE Clonskeagh Community Nursing Unit Private collections in Ireland, UK, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Australia and New Zealand

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2019
Sunday Independent 1st July - What Lies Beneath, Moonlight Lugnaquilla by Niall MacMonagle.

2014
Wicklow Through the Artist’s Eye - book by Patricia Butler and Mary Davies, includes Seamus O’Byrne.