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paulmccloskey.ie

Paul McCloskey

Abstract painter Paul McCloskey attended the National College

of Art and Design in Dublin, and also De Montfort University

in the UK, where he received an MA in Fine Art in 2010.

About his work, he says: “My visual influence is drawn from my

surroundings; from landscape, imagination, memories, and emotions.

These influences are primarily a catalyst for expressing connection to divinity

and are therefore secondary to this expression, the primary purpose being

process, allowing, presence and place. The practice of allowing and presence

throughout the creative process for me is a catharsis, a deliverance from the

egoic mind, a meditation in present-moment practice.”

“The varied and stunning Irish landscape, coupled with our unsettled

weather and therefore often fleeting and mottled light, inspires me greatly.

Often a view will change, or an area will be illuminated by a simple break

in the clouds, highlighted as if it’s a shimmering treasure or jewel. A corner

of a field, the side of a rocky cliff or the dynamic sweeping curves of a valley

can remind us that we are an integral part of, and connected to, a whole.

Effectively, this encourages us to see and, most importantly, feel the

landscape’s beauty and spirit, a reconnection to this vital part of us.”

“The suggestion of heaven and earth in constant struggle, merging yet

separable, solid yet amorphous, also suggests the multidimensional nature of

the spiritual, the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega, the struggle

within, between the conditioned self and the divine/spiritual self.”

McCloskey is a professional member of Visual Artists Ireland.

He has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally,

in London, Manchester and Nottingham in the UK, and in Venice,

Paris, Macedonia, Bulgaria and New York.

Left: Paul McCloskey, Lesson, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 cm

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