Diarmuid kelley biography of abraham

Diarmuid Kelley Edit Profile

artist

Diarmuid Kelley is a British still life and portrait artist, who has been perfecting the expression of light in his work. Kelley paints only from life and under natural light.

Background

Diarmuid Kelley was born in , in Stirling, United Kingdom. He grew up in the north of England.

Education

In , Kelley entered Newcastle University to study Fine Art, graduating in Between and , he attended Chelsea College of Art and Design (present-day Chelsea College of Arts), where he received a Master of Arts degree in Painting.

Career

Kelley has long been associated with Offer Waterman & Co, having had five solo-exhibitions at the gallery, including those, held in , and His work is regularly represented in the BP Portrait Award, held at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In addition, Diarmuid has taken part in a number of other group exhibitions, including &#;The Figure&#;, Browse & Darby Gallery, London; &#;Hinterland&#;, Thomas Williams Fine Art Ltd., London; and &#;Illuminate&#;, Jasmine Studios, Hammersmith, London.

Every year, the artist undertakes a limited number of portrait commissions, which he often paints on location, working at his studio as well. For example, in , Diarmuid received a commission to paint Dame Anne Owers, Her Majesty&#;s Chief Inspector of Prisons.

Achievements

  • Diarmuid Kelley is one of the United Kingdom&#;s leading portrait and still life artists. In , he was the youngest artist ever to win the prestigious Nat West Art Prize. The prices for his works range from $40, to $50, for small still lifes and to $, for a large subject.

    The artist&#;s works are often purchased by celebrity collectors, such as the film director Steven Spielberg, and are kept in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and Chatsworth House, Derbyshire.

Works

  • painting

    • Kangaroo

    • Courbet, Saviour of the World

    • The Bayeux Tapestry

    • Lives of the Great Composers

    • Red Onions

    • Supermassive Black Hole

    • Rhashan

    • Live at the Witch Trials

    • Cox's Apples

    • Seville Oranges

    • Portrait of The Duke of Devonshire

    • I'm Backing Britain

    • I Didn't Know You Cared

    • Every Home Should Have One

    • England is Mine

    • Keats and Yeats are On Your Side

    • A Guide to the New Elizabethans

    • Untitled (Rosie)

    • Summer

    • Winterreise

    • Copenhagen

    • Portrait of Sir Richard Thompson

    • Peony

    • Untitled (Red Grapes)

    • Forty-one False Starts

    • Garden Rose

    • Hawfinches

Views

Throughout his career, Kelley has been experimenting with the methods, employed by the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century and Joseph Wright of Derby, recreating timeless scenes, where natural light is a key component. Using a specially constructed &#;room&#; in his studio, which has a window frame to one side, exposed to strong daylight, he adjusts the curtaining to carefully control the dramatic counterpoint of light and shade to recreate a sense of what he terms &#;a loaded stillness&#;. The result is a series of beautifully constructed portraits and still lifes with an arresting, timeless quality and enigmatic names, such as &#;The Thirty Years War&#; and &#;Indian Red&#;.

The subjects of his paintings are frequently friends, including the actress Olivia Williams – a longstanding muse, whom he has cast in a wide range of roles within his work, from Regency beauty to contemporary femme fatale.

Connections

Friend:
Olivia Williams