Brian Whelan
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Brian Whelan | |
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 Brian Whelan, 2009 | |
| Born | 3 May 1957 Ealing, London |
| Website | www |
Brian Whelan (born 3 May 1957) is an Irish painter,[1][2] author and playwright.
Early life
Whelan was born in Ealing, West London, UK, of Irish Roman Catholic parents. His childhood was spent both in London and Ireland (Kilkenny Waterford and Dublin). After his training at the Royal Academy of Arts, he lived and worked for 30 years in various parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, England. These early years were spent painting, organizing various multi-disciplined art events and making films.[citation needed]
Career
Whelan first came to the attention of the public and media in a fringe event connected to the Aldeburgh Festival in 2000 with an exhibition entitled "The Church Pub" with co artist Andrew Smith.[citation needed] Whelan's half of the exhibition went on to the Hammersmith Irish Art Centre in London (now called the Irish Cultural Centre). The exhibition then transferred to St Benedict's Abbey in Ealing London.[citation needed]
Later years in England were devoted to exhibiting his works throughout England (St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral, St Benedict's Abbey) and internationally (Spain, China, United States) and writing books.
His painting "Holy City with Herald" can be found in the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos in Santiago de Compostella.
Since 2013, he and his American wife Wendy Roseberry have lived in the historic village of Waterford, Virginia, USA, where they have created a studio out of an old outbuilding.[citation needed]
Works and exhibitions
Norwich Cathedral in Norfolk England commissioned Whelan to paint 14 panels of the spiritual life and death of International Red Cross nurse Edith Cavell in 2014. The panels on which the scenes of The Passion of Edith Cavell were painted, were first exhibited at Washington National Cathedral in the US to mark 100 years since the beginning of WW1.
The paintings later in the following year travelled to Brussels Roman Catholic Cathedral St Michael and St Gudula (close to Schaerbeek, where Edith Cavell was executed) before continuing its journey to Norfolk for permanent installation of the 14 panels at Norwich Cathedral to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Cavell's execution, in October 2015.[3][4]
Washington National Cathedral invited Whelan to again exhibit in 2016.[5] Nine paintings on the subject of Holy City, a celebration of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.[6] The installation placed in the north transept was to mark the 15th year since the 9/11 attacks.
Whelan's painting The Martyrdom of St. Edmund permanently hangs in the Lady Chapel of St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St. Edmund, England.;[7] His images are used on the Shane MacGowan website;[citation needed] and the cover and contents of The Popes 2009 CD Outlaw Heaven and 2012 CD New Chuch as well as five releases from London Irish punk folker Anto Morra since 2013 until present day.[citation needed]
In addition to painting religious subjects, Whelan paints London—the city of his birth—using multiple perspectives and contradictory scales, bending, twisting, and organising the urban chaos into harmony.
In summer 2009, Whelan co-curated The Quiet Men – London Irish Painters, the first major international tour (UK, Spain and US) of contemporary London Irish art.[8] At the PM Gallery in Ealing, London Whelan first showed his large (2.7 m × 3.6 m) polyptych Transmetropolitan painting – an immigrants' joyride across the city of London and reference to the song of the same name by Shane MacGowen.In addition to Whelan's work, The Quiet Men tour included paintings by four other London Irish painters: Bernard Canavan, John Duffin, Dermot Holland and the late Daniel Carmody.[9] The book by the same name published by The Irish World Newspaper was launched in 2010 by the Irish Embassy in London.[10]
References
- ^ "About Brian Whelan". Brian Whelan. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
- ^ Teather, Will (April–May 2010). "In The Frame: London". Green Pebble Magazine. Retrieved 18 May 2011.
- ^ "The Passion of Edith Cavell - St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral, Brussels". CathedralisBruxellensis.be. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Digital, Centenary. "Edith Cavell Centenary - Remembrance at Norwich Cathedral". www.CentenaryNews.com. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Barnes, Jim (5 December 2016). "Waterford artist's work is on display at Washington National Cathedral". Retrieved 17 November 2017 – via www.WashingtonPost.com.
- ^ "Reception and Reflections: Holy City - Washington National Cathedral". Cathedral.org. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- ^ Collins, Ian. "A king's saintly image redrawn," Eastern Daily Press, 15 Nov.
- ^ Donohoe, Victoria 'Immigrants' story at Villanova show' Philadelphia Inquirer 3 September 2009
- ^ Millar, Frank. "The Quiet Men." Irish Times, 17 March 2009
- ^ Roseberry, Wendy ed. London Irish Painting, Irish World Newspaper, London, 15 October 2010
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