Phil Irish

Home: Elora, Ontario
Title: Layered Self
Media: Oil on paper, pins / huile sur papier, épingles
Dimensions: 94 x 98 cm
Website: www.philirish.com

To make this image, I painted several self-portraits on paper.  The images depicted different moods, but also different ages.  The craft of painting then falls to a knife: I carve up the cohesive images of self, to construct an image that is both more fragmented and holistic.  Madeleine L’Engle suggested that we carry, inside ourselves, all of the ages we have ever been.  This portrait questions the singularity of the portrait genre, allowing complexities and contradictions to co-exist.

EDUCATION:
2012 M.F.A.  York University.
1995 B.A. (honours) with distinction. University of Guelph, Fine Art – specialized honours;   English – minor

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2012 Makeshift, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario.
2009 Watershed. Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario.
2008 Intimate, Joyce Yahouda Gallery, Montreal, Quebec.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2012 Indiscretions: Narrative Painting Now, Grenfell Art Gallery, Memorial University of Newfoundland, NFL.
2008 I’ll Meet You There. Manifestation International d’Art de Québec 4, Quebec City, Quebec.
2006 Addressing Oakville, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario.

RESIDENCIES:
2005, 1997 Symposium d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec.
2001 Jeux de la Francophonie, Ottawa/Hull.
2000 Pouch Cove Artist’s Residency, Newfoundland

GRANTS/AWARDS:
2011 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,  J.A. Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
2008 Ontario Arts Council: Project Grant (Mid Career)
2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001 Ontario Arts Council: Exhibition Assistance Grant