Liam McCloskey

Date of Birth:  1st June 1964

Education: B.Eng . Mechanical Engineering, Queens University, Belfast. 1987

I am self-taught as an artist making my first foray into painting about 17 years ago- taking a sabbatical from my career in the Manufacturing Industry . I painted and pursued a painting career for about 4 years only and had some very limited success, exhibiting with the following Galleries and taking commissions for portrait.
• McGilloways Gallery. Derry
o Sold a number of paintings per year over the 4years 2006 -2010 (figurative and still life)

• Eakin Gallery, Belfast
o Exhibited and sold paintings towards the end of 2009 and some of my figurative work appeared in their 20th Anniversary Brochure in 2009 . I have just recently placed 4 new pieces.

• Kilcock Gallery, Kildare
o They exhibited a number of my figurative paintings @ 2005, and still have four of the paintings. I am currently re-establishing contact.

• Gallery 148, Hollywood, Co.Down
o Exhibited and sold a couple of Still life but have no painting currently there

• Island Irish Art, Coleraine
o They exhibited a number of my paintings over the four years selling four.

• Lavelles Gallery, Westport
o They sold some figurative work and still hold one of my still life paintings

• I was also privately commissioned for a number ofPortrait paintings during this time and Exhibited with the Pastel Society of Ireland in Downpatrick. I won the MeNeely / McCann prize for a self-portrait ( see attached)

• Sporting Art – As someone who loved sport ( played Irish League soccer for Crusaders and Carrick Rangers ) a particular interest for me is creating sporting art which aims to capture the excitement, the theatre and the skills whjich define sport and which themselves can be raised to the level of an art form.

Personal Statement

I am interested in representational art and my first love has been portraiture and figurative art from life where accuracy is important. As such I have focused heavily on developing technique and control of the painting medium. I now want to go beyond just pure technique and accuracy and focus on eliciting emotional response to the work by experimenting and abstracting away from the rigour of technique and accuracy,

Having spent the last 13 years working in the Manufacturing and Engineering field I am now in the fortunate position to be able focus 100% of my energies on art.

I am keen to find galleries who can help me on this journey