1957 Born in Dublin
1993-1995 Chairperson, The Artist Association of Ireland
1993-1996 Board Member , Sculptors Society of Ireland
1995-2000 President, The European Council of Artists
2000-2004 Board Member , The Butler Gallery Kilkenny

Eamon Colman now lives and works in County Kilkenny. He lives with his partner Irish artist Pauline O'Connell and their son Reuben.
He is one of Ireland's most popular and critically acclaimed contemporary painters.

Solo Exhibitions

2006 Vangard Gallery, Cork
South Tipperary Arts Center, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
Harlech Biennale, Wales
St. David’s University, Lampeter, Wales
Oriel Queens Hall Gallery, Wales
Salt River, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin
2005 Africa 22 - 35 S, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin (limited edition artist's book)
2002-1995 Walking Vermont, Julian Scott Memorial Gallery, USA Vangard Gallery, Cork
2000 Rain on Water, Rubicon Gallery
1999 Frederickshaven, Denmark
1998 Festival Interceiltique de Lorient, Palais des Congres Lorient France
1998 Riverwalk, Vangard Gallery, Cork
1997 Post Cards Home, R.H.A. Gallagher, Dublin
1996 Digging for Pearls, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
1995 Digging for Pearls, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
1994 The Home of the Snake King, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
1991 Islands, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
1990 One Man Show, Sligo Arts Week, Sligo
India, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
Dreams from the Lions Head, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006 RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin
2005 RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin
Eigse, Carlow
Boyle Arts Festival, invited
Kilcock Art Gallery, invited
2004 Eigse, Carlow
RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin
Irish Art, Angera Italy, to coincide with Irish Presidency
2003 RHA Annual Exhibition , Dublin
Greenacres, Wexford Opera Festival
Eigse, Carlow
Kilkenny Arts Festival, Fringe
2002 Eigse, Carlow
2001 Eigse, Carlow
2000 Aer Rianta, Dublin Airport
1998 Dyehouse Gallery, Waterford
1997 Small Works, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
Landscape & Recollection, The Ballinglen Experience, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
1996 Irish Art, Dillon Gallery, London
Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
1995 Irish Art, Singapore
Irish Life Mall, Dublin
Civic Forum, Barcelona, Spain
R.H.A. Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
1994 Banquet Exhibition, R.H.A. Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
An t-Oireachtas, Guinness Hops Store, Dublin
Iontas, Sligo Art Gallery & R.H.A. Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
Irish Artists, Dolan Maxwell Philadelphia, U.S.A.
1993 Monaghan Open, Co. Monaghan
Irish Showcase, Hong Kong
Touchstone Gallery, Hong Kong
1992 R.H.A. Annual Exhibition, Dublin
Contemporary Irish Art Society Exhibition, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin
1991 R.H.A. Annual Exhibition, Dublin
R.H.A. Banquet Exhibition, Dublin
Boyle Arts Week, Roscommon
1990 Images from Ireland, Brussels
European Artist of Promise, B.P. Gallery, Brussels
Echoes 1990 Rue de Spa, Brussels
R.H.A. Banquet Exhibition, Dublin
1988 Claremorris Open, Mayo
Celtic Vision Exhibition Centre, Bank of Ireland, Dublin
Oireachtas Touring Exhibition, Dublin
Exhibition of Visual Art '88, Limerick
Open Circle, Scotland
Del Bello Gallery Toronto Ontario, Canada
Irish Art, Knapp Gallery, London
1987 S.A.D.E. 1987, Cork
1986 Independent Artist Guinness Hops Store, Dublin
Eamon Colman/Nick Miller, Temple Bar Studios
Dublin John Piper/Eamon Colman Windsor Arts Centre, London
Celtic Vision Museo Espanol De Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain
Celtic Vision Palacio Municipal de Expositions, Spain

Awards/Residencies/Commissions

2005 CCAT Interreg Major Award for touring exhibition in Wales
2004 Arts Act Grant, Kilkenny County Council
2002 1% For Art Commission, Roscommon Arts Centre
Vermont Studio Centre, Full Fellowship Award
2001 Eigse - First Prize Painting
1% For Art - The Bell Centre, Darndale
The Euro World Project, First Prize with Crumlin Children's Hospital
2000 Art Flight awarded by the Arts Council of Ireland
1999 Residency in Hirsholmene, by Danish Council of Artists
1996 Arts Council of Ireland, Materials Grant
1995 Arts Council of Ireland, Major Artists Bursary
1993 Arts Flight to New York awarded by the Arts Council & Aer Lingus
S.I.P.T.U. Print Award
1992 Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Residency, Co. Mayo
Set design for 'After the Picnic' by Evelyn Waugh, Players Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin
1991 Irish Arts Council, Materials Grant
1989 Irish Arts Council , Materials Grant
1988 The Exhibition of Visual Art, E.V.A., First Prize Painting
Artist in Residence Tyrone Guthrie Centre
Studio Exchange to India
1987 Purchase Award S.A.D.E. 1987

Teaching

2000-2003 Mentor, Pavee Point, Dublin
1998-2003 Brushstrokes Art School, Dublin
1996-2003 Bluebell Women's Refuge - IMMA Outreach Programme

Collections

National Irish Bank
Norwich Union
Gordon Lambert Collection
KPMG
Jury's Inn, Manchester
Irish Contemporary Arts Society
Deutsche Bank
Gresham Hotel
AIB Bank, Brussels
Bank Of Ireland, Brussels
Philip Docahalo Corporation Florida
The Merrion Inn
Clery's Select Tea Rooms
Wexford County Council
Mc Cormack & Sons
The Green Lizard Restaurant
Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
Sheen Falls Hotel
Kings House Museum, Boyle
American Express
McCann Fitzgerald
Irish Life
Office Of Public Works- Government Collection
Arthur Anderson
Smurfit Ireland Grp
Tralee Regional Technical College
Fyffes Ireland
Delta Airlines
The Arts Council of Ireland
The Danish Arts Council
Citibank
Vermont Studio Centre
private collections

Bibliography

Newspaper & magazine reviews
Glendon, Patrick, "Artist Eamon a Man to Watch" in Irish Press, Nov. 1981
Anon, "Like Father, Like Son" in Evening Herald, Nov. 1981, p.10
Byrne, P.F. "Excellent First Show", Irish Press, Nov. 1981
Fallon,Brian, "Eamon Colman At the Tulfarris Gallery", Irish TImes, May 2, 1982, p.12
Glendon, Paddy, "Round and About the Galleries", Irish Independent, May 15, 1982
Cooke, Harriet, "Christmas Show at the Arts Club", Irish Times, Dec. 1982
Cooke, Harriet, "Two Artists at the Grafton Gallery", Irish Times, June 1985
Cooke, Harriet, "Four painters at the Arts Club", Irish Times, Oct. 16, 1985, p.12
Dunne, Aidan, "Irish Art", Sunday Tribune, June 1986
McCrum, Sean, "Sitting Up at the Bar", Irish Times, Sept. 3, 1986
Fallon, Brian, "Second SADE at Cork", Irish TImes, July 8, 1987
Anon, "Colman Wins EV&A" Cork Examiner, Oct. 16 1988
MacAvock, Desmond, "Eamon Colman At the Rubicon Gallery", Irish TImes, June 1990
MacNamidhe, Margaret, "Irish Artists Abroad", in Protfolio, Gandon Press, Dublin, 1991
Dunne, Aidan, "Bare Male Images in Large Colour, Eamon Colman, Rubicon Gallery", Sunday Tribune, May 15, 1992
Anon, "Exhibitions, Exhibitions and Society", The Phoenix, May 15, 1992
Anon, "In Memory of the Beekeeper's Son", In Dublin, May 26, 1992
Anon, "Byzantium", Image Magazine, May 1992
MacAvock, Desmond, "Eamon Colman (sic) at the Rubicon Gallery", Irish TImes, May 21, 1992, p.12
Anon, "Displays In Philadelphia", Philadelphia Enquirer, Oct. 20, 1994
Dunne, Aidan, "Keeping the Art in the Family", Sunday Tribune, Aug. 7, 1994, p.8
Dunne, Aidan, "Critics Choice", Sunday Tribune, Dec. 1995, p.8
Dunne, Aidan, "Homesick messages from the heart and soul", Sunday Tribune, March, 1997, p.10
Clancy, Luke, "Eamon Colman, RHA Gallagher Gallery" Irish TImes, March 12, 1997
Ewart, Mark, "Walking Vermont, by Eamon Colman", Irish Times, June 25, 2002
Ni Mhurchu, Aingeal, "Eamon Colman, Walking Vermont, Vangard Gallery" Irish Examiner, June 28, 2002
Ryan, Jackie, "Investing in Irish Art", Irish Property Buyer, Vol. 1, 2005
Felder, Tess, “The Constant Gardener”, The Kilkenny People, April 7 2006, p. 27
Dunne, Aidan, “Salt River, Eamon Colman at Hillsboro Fine Art”, The Irish Times, April 27, p. 14

Irish Monograph # 1
McAvera, Brian, "Dreams From The Lion's Head", The work of Eamon Colman, Four Fields Press, 1998, ISBN 0-9532623 - 0 - 8
John O Reagan (ed.), Profile 25 – Eamon Colman (Gandon Editions, Kinsale)

Artist Catalogue
McLaughlin, Nicholas, "Walking Vermont", Recent Works 2002
McAVera, Brian, "Africa", Cassagh Press, 2004

Artist Profile Film
Fronteer Films- in conjunction with Better Ireland Awards for Drawing Studies programme for National Gallery of Ireland 2000

ARTIST STATEMENT

As an artist there have been a range of influences in my work, some occur sequentially and some simultaneously, but many by accident or serendipity. Nature and nurture have fed upon each other to create a form of expression which is a personal visual language.

Through the exploration of psyche I begin to understand the need to explore landscape and walking has become an important part of this exploration. Following this journey comes the exploration of space on a canvas. I believe that I am in the tradition of artists such as Ivon Hitchens, Auerbach and Hodgkins. Unlike Hitchens who creates work that is non symbolic my works are both allusive and symbolic but I take from him the interest in spatial sequencing.

When I think about form and space on a canvas it moves away from representation to abstraction. For me the thing which is the essence of abstraction is the ghost of representation. The boat shape in a Heron painting for example, it’s placement within the canvas abstracts it. To throw away the topographical mark making, go beyond it and then with one mark bring it back creates a visual language which hovers between reality and the imagination. Space is the stage on which you say something, it is created by the placement of a form. The contrast between line and colour is what creates this tension.

It is through the act of walking and travelling that holds the key to all my work. Through the exploration of a given landscape I discover a story to tell. At the source of my work is the story.

Over the past number of years my work practice has taken me to various countries and places. Whether this be Skagen on the Danish coast or to India my search for a way of taking the local history and making a visual response has always been the same.

Through an investigation of place names the discovery of a continuous oral tradition has found it’s way into our contemporary lives, of note are the stories of the Druid tradition.

I find the mood of a landscape through it’s people, I interpret this through it’s colour which sometimes can be incidental as with the Irish landscape. A small flower, a piece of driftwood can determine the colour of the whole painting.

The overriding element of a painting for me is colour. Strong colour with slight pigment changes are used to create the mood of a place. The colour is also a way of looking of that magic realism element in a painting, it’s otherness.

I am open to things happening on a canvas even though I use many notebooks as reference, while making a painting the things that happen with paint are celebrated.

Artist's Work