About the Artist
'The longer you look at an object the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.' Lucian Freud
I’m Caroline Murtagh, an oil painter living and working in County Cork, Ireland. Born in London England, to Irish parents, we returned to live in Ireland when I was three years old. I’ve been living here ever since, apart from some time spent in Marblehead, Massachusetts, when I studied at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly.
For my 21st birthday I was given a gift of a replica box of an original Turner watercolour paint set and I was hooked. Like many artists, I had to find a way to balance the practicalities of everyday life with the unpredictability and insecurity that can often be part of life as a working artist.
Having trained as a nurse when I left school, this became my main source of income. It’s hard to imagine two more opposite occupations. There is as little space for practicality and rational thinking in a painting studio as there is for creative thought and imagination in a hospital. That said, the people I have met and the experiences I have had while in that profession have given me an insight into life that has been both enriching and thought-provoking. These thoughts and the emotions they can stir are often subconscious because many happen as part of a busy day, when personal feelings have to be parked and thoughts can be fleeting.
Much of my earlier work was representational but more and more I found myself drawn towards abstraction as I tried to hold and capture those fleeting thoughts. There is comfort in ambiguity and sometimes an image can say a thing that words just can’t.
For many years I worked alternate weeks in my studio. I exhibited pieces in various galleries and group shows throughout Ireland and abroad. The difficulty I found with this alternate work practice was in completing a consistent body of work. When I returned to my studio after a week in the hospital, submerged as I was in so many other people’s lives, I felt disconnected from my work and who I was as an artist and each new week in the studio felt like I was starting all over again.
Along with my own work in the studio, I received commissions to paint many large murals for hotels and bars, as well as private houses, specialising in trompe l’oeil effect. Yet, again this work took me away from my studio space.
What sustained me and somehow brought these disparate parts of my life together was the discipline of my sketchbook and my love of life drawing which I continue to practice whenever I get the opportunity.
When I was in college, I had an art Professor, a wonderful classical painter from New York, called George Gabin. He used to say: ‘If everything is important, nothing is important’. It stuck with me, and remains the foundation of my artistic journey, the goal of which is to learn and define who I am as a painter by finding a way to simplify my thoughts into visual language. I have always loved oil paint. I love its smell, feel and texture when I’m mixing colours, so this is my preferred main medium.
My plan had always been to work full-time as a painter. That time came for me in early 2017 and I had my first solo show in the Watergate Theatre as part of The Fringe at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. I had my second solo show in 2018.
More recently, I was delighted to have work included in the Royal Ulster Academy's annual exhibition in both 2022 & 2023.
As well as taking part in many exhibitions here in Cork over these past few years, I also have the honour of being included in this years RHA 195th annual exhibition in Dublin.
This is my own personal journey towards artistic self-awareness, one I hope will be as interesting to follow as it is for me to explore. If you’d like to come along with me on that journey, sign up to my e-mail list here and receive regular updates.
If you’d like more information on any of my work please feel free to drop me an email or simply; Leave a comment I'd love to here from you.
Caroline
