Abstract Compositions in Paint

Paul Doran was born in Gorey, Co. Wexford in 1972 and he studied a Masters in Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design in 2001. Doran is one of Irelands finest painters and he celebrates the medium of paint itself. Working with abstract compositions of thick, layered paint, he creates highly textured works of a compelling nature. In his paintings Doran wishes to emphasize the handmade element; whereby organic structures can be assembled together by the human hand in a multitude of ways resulting in something that  appears complete but reveals itself to be fluid. The lack of something stable and ‘absolute’ makes Doran’s paintings an unmistakable contemporary experience. [1]

View “Untitled” within the Collection

Emphasis on The Handmade

“For me, practical and conceptual concerns are inseparable. We live in a world that is more easily defined by technology, but I am interested in ideas about the handmade, how human existence can be communicated through the handmade in a more meaningful way. There is a real difference between process paintings and paintings that emphasize the presence of the human hand. For me, the latter is a more conceptual approach. I think that ideas about the handmade have an important role to play in a contemporary context” – Paul Doran

Education

• National College of Art and Design, Masters in Fine Art, 2001
• National College of Art and Design, H. Dip. A.D.T, 1998
• National College of Art and Design, B.A. Fine Art, Painting, 1997

Solo Exhibitions

• Paul Doran, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, 2008
• Paul Doran, Galerie Katharina Krohn, Basel, 2007
• Metamorphosis, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, 2007
• Man in a Shed, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo, Ireland, 2006
• Gislebertus told me, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, 2005
• Paul Doran, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2004
• Paul Doran , Finesilver Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, U.S, 2004
• Paul Doran, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2002

Selected Group Exhibitions

• Size Matters, The Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee, 2008
• Size Matters, Hudson Valley Centre for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, 2007
• NADA Art Fair, Miami (with Green On Red Gallery), 2007
• Éigse, Carlow , 2006
• VOLTAshow02, Basel, Switzerland (with Green On Red Gallery), 2006
• Art in State Buildings 1995 – 2005, Farmleigh Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2006
• NADA Art Fair, Miami (with Green On Red Gallery), 2005
• two d, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2005
• Stitching Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2005
• New Territories, Arco, Madrid, Spain, 2005
• Siar 50; 50 Years of Irish Art from the Collections of the Contemporary, 2005
• Irish Art Society, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2005
• Tír na nÓg: Younger Irish Artists from the IMMA Collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2004
• Angela de la Cruz, Paul Doran, Pia Fries, Dennis Hollingsworth, Juergen Meyer, Adrian Schiess, GalerieTanya Rumpff, The Netherlands, 2004
• Colour Chart, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 2003
• Totgeasgte Leben langer, Galerie Ulrich Mueller, Cologne, Germany, 2003
• Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany (Green On Red Gallery), 2003
• Paul Doran, Mark Milloff & Pia Fries, Galerie Katharina Krohn, Basel, Switzerland, 2003
• Art Chicago, Chicago, U.S. (Finesilver Gallery), 2003
• ART2003 London Art Fair, U.K. (Green On Red Gallery), 2003
• Art Cologne 2002, Cologne, Germany (Green On Red Gallery), 2002
• Armory Show, New York, U.S. (Green On Red Gallery), 2002
• Galerie Tanya Rumpff, The Netherlands, 2002
• Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany (Green On Red Gallery), 2001
• Contemporary 2001, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 2001
• N.C.A.D. MA Graduate Show, Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin, 2001
• Masters Show, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland, 2001

Collections

• Allied Irish Bank
• AXA Insurance
• Bank of Ireland
• Dublin Dental Hospital
• Enterprise Ireland
• KPM Amro
• Intel Computers
• Irish Museum of Modern Art
• National College of Art and Design
• Office of Public Works, Ireland
• University College Dublin
• Wesley College, Dublin
• Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.
• Private Collections: Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, U.S.A.

Catalogues

• Profile 24: Paul Doran, essays by Robbie O’Halloran and Sally O’Reilly, Gandon Editions, Cork, Ireland, 2006
• Paul Doran, essays by Enrique Juncosa and Jens-Peter Koerver, Green On Red Gallery, Dublin, Finesilver Gallery, San Antonio and Galerie Katharina Krohn, Basel, Switzerland, 2004
• Paul Doran, essay by Aidan Dunne, Hallward Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, 1999 Articles
• Renaissance man in a shed, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, April 7 , 2006
• Paul Doran – Man in a Shed, The Scene, April, 2006
• Paul Doran: Gislebertus Told Me, Eimear McKeith, Circa 115, Spring 2006, p.78 – 79 , 2006
• Round-Up: Paul Doran @ Green On Red, The Visual Artists News Sheet, Issue 1, January/Feb, 2006
• Getting down to the essence, Eimear McKeith, Tribune 2 Arts Supplement, The Sunday Tribune, December 11, 2005
• Gislebertus Told Me, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, November 30, 2005
• The Business of Painting, Jason Oakley in coversation with Paul Doran, The Visual Artists’ News Sheet, Issue 5, September – October , 2005
• Oilpaint Explosion at the Maas, Door Edo Dijksterhuis, Het Fuinancieele Dagblad, February 16^th, 2005
• Reviews Southwest: San Antonio, Texas, Anjali Gupta, Artpapers.Org, September/ October, 2004
• Belfast: Colourchart at Ormeau Baths…, Gavin Weston, Circa, Spring 2004
• Luscious, Marianne Hartigan, The Sunday Tribune, February 29, 2004
• Big paintings in small parcels, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, February 20, 2004
• Colouring Our Perception, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, November 14, 2003
• Spreading the good work, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, 2003
• Objects of Obsession, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times Magazine, June 22, 2002
• Paul Doran, Green On Red Gallery, Anne Iremonger, Dubliner, 2002
• …with glimpses of the human form, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, November 21, 2001

Awards

• AIB Art Prize , 2005
• Arts Council of Ireland Travel Bursary, 2003
• CAP Foundation Shortlisted Award, 1997

 

 

 

 

[1] http://www.contemporaryart.com/green-on-red-gallery/paul-doran/