Paul Woods

I am an Irish artist who graduated in 1995 from Limerick School of Art and Design with a BA Honours Degree in fine art painting. I have exhibited my work in Ireland, Poland and America, where I lived for eight years. My artwork up to date is a visual compendium and evaluation of the tragedy of life lost in warfare, in times when global conflict and economic strife are paramount issues. I paint about personal, collective and universal histories. My work is about the past and memory, and war – or, to use Wilfred Owen’s phrase, “the pity of war” – a theme to which I continually return, as I believe that to understand the past is the only way to make sense of the present. Often of a large scale, my artworks combine painting and photographic techniques to produce a multi-layered image in which the photographic elements can dominate the image or be obliterated by over-painting. This technique becomes a metaphor for the subject itself as it highlights the extent to which history and memory are central to all my works. Through my work I intend to stimulate a dialogue on the role of art in the process of familiarizing and contextualizing history and its cyclical nature. I also think that through the chosen style of abstract expressionism I ...

2007 D.K.I.T Dundalk
Qualification Certificate in I-Media, Multimedia course

2004 - May 2005 O` Fiaich College of Further Education
Qualification F.E.T.A.C. Certificate in Applied Psychology and Social Studies

1994 - 1995 Limerick College of Art and Design
Qualification B.A. Degree with Honours in Fine Art Painting

1991 – 1994 Limerick College of Art and Design
Qualification Higher National Diploma with Merit in Fine Art Painting

1990 – 1991 O` Fiaich College of Further Education
Qualification Certificate in Art, Craft and Design

CSELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2016 Áras Chill Dara, Kildare County Council Revolution!1916 - Public Art Trail, April – December, solo
The LUAN Gallery, Athlone, The People, The Land - Artistic Responses to the 1916 Rising by Paul Woods and Tom Byrne, curated by Aedin McGinn, April – June, duo show
The Basement Gallery, An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk, Oradour – Elegy for a Town, Jan – Feb, solo

2015 Leixlip Library Gallery, Kildare, Gallipoli and the Great War, April-May, solo
Tipperary Excel Arts Centre, Fields of War, Feb- April, solo
Illuminations Gallery, Maynooth, Artist Notebook Project, Feb-March, group

2014 Fort Dunree – Artlink Donegal, No Jury, No Prize, Nov – Dec, group show
Farmleigh Gallery – Motorhouse, Dublin, The Iron Harvest – Contemporary Approaches to Painting WW1, Oct – Nov, solo
Athy Heritage Centre, Visual Encounters with the Great War, Sept – Oct, solo

2013 Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge, KRF: 1 2013 Artist Notebook Project, Oct, group
2011 International Exhibition Centre in Boleslawiec, Poland, Stories about History, Dec 2010-Jan 2011 solo by invitation

2010 Galeria Legnica, Legnica, Poland, Stories about History, Nov- Dec, solo by invitation
Galeria BWA, Jelenia Gora, Poland, Stor...