Gorman, Richard
RICHARD GORMAN
b. 1946, Dublin, Ireland
A gifted colourist, Richard Gorman is best known for his paintings and works on paper exploring the dynamic
interplay between geometric forms. The artist’s work has been greatly influenced by his frequent and extended
trips to Japan – for over 25 years, he has visited the family-run Iwano paper factory in Echizen to produce his
handmade kozo washi paper. Produced on both a monumental and intimate scale, these paper works offer a
delicacy and fragility in counterpoint to his more robust oils on canvas. Both strands of Gorman’s practice
draw their power from the compositional tension between increasingly prominent and boldly simplified blocks
of colour, often with a subtly playful or humorous undertone.
Gorman has exhibited widely and regularly since the mid-1980s, particularly in Europe and Japan. Upcoming
exhibitions include Buzz and Hum, a two-person exhibition with Samuel Walsh, Limerick City Gallery (9
February – 16 April 2017) and Chigasaku Museum, Japan (2019). Previous solo shows include Castletown
House, Ireland; The MAC, Belfast; Mitaka City Gallery of Art; Ashikaga City Museum of Art; CCGA Koriyama
Museum; Itami City Gallery of Art; the RHA, Dublin and Crawford Gallery, Cork. In 2014, Gorman became
the first Irish artist to design a carré scarf for luxury fashion house Hermès. Since then his designs have also
featured in the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2015 menswear collection and an accompanying window installation
at the iconic Japanese department store Isetan, Shinjuku. Gorman’s work is represented in the collections of
IMMA, Dublin; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Japan; Centre of Contemporary Graphic Art, Fukishima,
Japan; New York Public Library; DeutscheBank; Limerick City Gallery and The Ulster Museum.
Richard Gorman (b. Dublin, Ireland, 1946) was educated at Trinity College Dublin and (the then) Dun Laoghaire School of Art.
Solo exhibitions have included shows at Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2012, 2006, 2003); Gallery Ihn, Seoul (2004); Koriyama City Museum of Art, Japan (2003); the Centre for Contemporary Graphic Art, Fukushima (2003); Galerie der Spiegel, Cologne (2003); Mitaka City Art Foundation, Tokyo (1999) and Itami City Museum of Art, Osaka (1998). Gorman has participated in Oireachtas and Irish Exhibition of Living Art on numerous occasions.
His work features in the collections of the Irish Museum of Modern Art; Civic Offices Dublin; Ulster Museum, Belfast; AIB Bank and in numerous private collections.
