International Artist John Gillan

John Gillan is quickly becoming one of Ireland's most collectable contemporary

artists! Having been showing in professional art galleries throughout Ireland fr
om the age of 16. Gillan, only 24 years old, he has already represented ireland
three times (including being the youngest artist to ever represent Ireland at th
e Ireland Chamber of Commerse, New York City, 2009). Although still very young i
n terms of his career he has already had his art hung in exhibitions alongside w
orks by world famous masters such as Picasso, salvador Dali, Piet Mondrian and F
rancis Bacon. It is clear this young artist is going to be a household name, and
it is no wonder he has already been given the accolade as the "new Picasso of C
omtemporary art." From representing Ireland and Irish art aboard to Exhibiting i
n New York City, Gillan's work is beginning to set the new standard for Irish Co
ntemporary Art...his work has been remarked on by London art critics, and writer
s as "producing work far beyond his years..."
Gillan is currently working with a world renowned gallery in New York City that
are looking into showing his work in a future group exhibition along with some o
f the WORLD'S most famous names in Contemporary Art today!!
ARTIST STATEMENT
From the intense structuring and sense of impending drama, to the emotional colo
ur charge and surface fracturing my work investigates the actual process of pain
ting and how technique can be used to evoke feelings of drama and emotion. Altho
ugh my work is in every sense abstract painting my main formal concerns remain t
he same as those of a figurative painter. The nature in which I work as an abstr
act painter relies a lot on the emotional intensity of the painting and the impr
ession of spontaneity. I work according to abstract criteria in that my initial
imagery comes from the unconscious, however, I am at the same time aware of thos
e figurative elements which allow the painting to be read as one coherent entity
.
Formally my work is concerned with composition, colour, and line. Each one of th
ese elements are combined in my painting to create perspective, light, and movem
ent. I have found my structural influence for my current work through looking at
the works of Pollock, Hitchens, Hoffmann, and De kooning...despite the fact I t
ake a lot of my structural influence from these Abstract Expressionist painter,
I do believe my own work is unique in the sense that it does not abandon realism
completely, but rather, choosing to embrace it if it enters my work unconscious
ly. There is still much debate in contemporary international art about the relev
ancy of Abstract Expressionist practices. Nevertheless those practices are funda
mental to the way in which I paint. It seems to me that Abstract Expressionism g
ives the viewer a raw insight into the mind of the artist. When the painting has
no obvious narrative the viewer is free to explore an alternative 'landscape' b
orn of their own unconscious and that of the artists. It is my hope that my pain
tings provide the viewer with that escapism from the 'real' which the modern wor
ld around us has made us accept as the norm.
What I endeavour to do with my latest work is investigate the process of teachin
g people how to read Abstract art. My work has hidden imagery within it which re
lates to famous paintings in art history. I do this not only to teach people tha
t Abstraction can be read in the same context as figurative paintings, but also
to allow me to teach people something about the history of art and to improve th
eir knowledge of what has gone before them in the art world while still being ab
le to focus on the contemporary surrounding in which the information is revealed
.