CV

Solo Exhibitions

2007    Solomon Gallery, Dublin
2005    Emer Gallery, Belfast
2004    Coloured Rain Gallery, Templepatrick, Belfast
2003    Emer Gallery, Belfast
2002    Gorry Gallery, Dublin
2001    Emer Gallery, Belfast
1999    Murneen Gallery, Antrim Town
          Omagh Arts Festival, The Gallery, Omagh
          Emer Gallery, Belfast

Group Exhibitions

2007    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          Art 07, Royal Dublin Society (with Solomon Gallery)
2006    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          Summer Group Exhibition, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast
          Christmas Group Exhibition, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
2005    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          ‘The Nude’, Emer Gallery, Belfast
          Éigse Carlow Arts Festival, St. Patrick’s College, Carlow‘
          Drawings and Sketches’, Coloured Rain Gallery, Templepatrick, Co.Antrim
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
2004    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
2003    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery
          Boyle Arts Festival, King House, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
          'Sedare', James Baird Gallery, St.John's, Newfoundland, Canada. 
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
2002    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          BP National Portrait Awards, National Portrait Gallery, London
          ‘Artists From Ulster’, King House, Boyle, Co. Roscommon
          ‘Aisling Gael’, Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, Co Kildare
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
2001    Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          Íontas Small Works Exhibition, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
2000    Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London
          "Arts Sans Frontiers", Gallerie des Expositions, L' Hay les Roses, Paris
          "New Images from from North Mayo", Ballinglen Arts Centre, Ballycastle
          Victor Treacy Award, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny
1999    'Fresh', Engine Room Gallery, Belfast
          Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London
          Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
1998    'Set', Catalyst Arts, Belfast
          Íontas Small Works Exhibition, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
          Christmas Exhibition, Cavehill Gallery, Belfast
1997    Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
          Christmas Exhibition, Cavehill Gallery, Belfast
1996    'Young Contemporary Artists', Ross's Court, Belfast
          Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast
          Christmas Exhibition, Cavehill Gallery, Belfast

Awards

2007    Runner-up, Hennessy Craig Scolarship, Royal Hibernian Academy
2006    Emer Gallery Prize, Best Self-Portrait, Royal Ulster Academy  
2004    Nominated, Hennessy Craig Scholarship, Royal Hibernian Academy 
2003    Nominated, Hennessy Craig Scholarship, Royal Hibernian Academy
2002    Emer Gallery Prize, Best Self-Portrait, Royal Ulster Academy
          Fellowship, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Co.Mayo.
2000    Nominated, Victor Treacy Award, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny
1999   Young Artist of the Year + Regional Prize (Belfast), Hunting Art Prizes,     
          Royal College of Art, London
          Association of Art Historians Thesis Prize
          Anderson Auctioneers and Valuers Prize, Best Self Portrait, 
          Royal Ulster Acadamy Annual Exhibition          
          Fellowship, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Co.Mayo.
1996    Anderson Auctioneers and Valuers Prize, Best Self-Portrait, Royal Ulster     
          Acadamey Exhibiton

Collections

Ulster Museum
Office of Public Works
Northern Ireland Department of the Environment
Ballinglen Arts Foundation Archive
Private Collections

BIOGRAPHY

Comhghall Casey was born in 1976 in Letterkenny, Co.Donegal and grew up in Omagh in Co. Tyrone.  He moved to Belfast in 1994 to study Art and Design at the University of Ulster and graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 1998.   After spending two years in Belfast, he moved to Dublin and has been living and working here ever since.

Comhghall generally works on a small scale and his preferred subject matter is still life, self-portraiture and occasionally landscape painting.  In the still life works he chooses to study mundane, deliberately ordinary, everyday objects, such as houseplants, coins, cuts of meat, fruits or childs’ toys.  Each object is placed centrally against a neutral background, along the dividing line between the simple tabletop and background wall.  Devoid of any narrative or meaning, Comhghall explains that in some way he is “trying to give an importance to these objects, to convey their tangibility, to freeze their presence”.

Comhghall also produces a self-portrait approximately once every other month and the forthcoming exhibition will feature a number of recent examples.  Like the still lives, the portrait poses are simply composed, allowing him to work on colour and composition.  Yet they also raise questions of self-awareness, self-image and self-consciousness.

For such a relatively young artist, Comhghall has already achieved many awards and accolades both in Ireland and Britain.  In the UK, he won both the 1999 Young Artist of the Year and the Regional Prize (Belfast) in the nationwide Hunting Art Prize; and in 2002, one of his self-portraits was short-listed for the BP National Portrait Award and was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London.  Closer to home, he has won the Best Self-Portrait Award (Emer Gallery Prize) at the Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition on three occasions in 1999, 2002 and 2006.  Comhghall has also been nominated three times for the prestigious Hennessy Craig Scholarship at the Royal Hibernian Academy and was awarded Hennessey Craig Runner-Up at this year’s RHA 2007 Annual Exhibition in Dublin.