Colin Davidson (artist)

Seamus Heaney in the studio with his portrait by Colin Davidson.

Mark Knopfler in the studio with his portrait by Colin Davidson.

Colin Davidson (born 1968) is an Irish visual artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. An artist who works in themes, his recent large-scale head paintings have been exhibited worldwide.

Early life and education

Davidson was born in Belfast in 1968 and attended Methodist College Belfast between 1980 and 1987.^[1] He graduated from the University of Ulster in 1991 with a First Class Honours Degree in Design.^[2] He worked in the field of design for print until 1999 when he started to paint full-time. Colin Davidson is an Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy and served as President of the Royal Ulster Academy between 2012 and 2015.^[3]

Early work

Davidson started to paint his native city in his teens, but this theme came to the fore in 2004 when his exhibition 'No Continuing City' was mounted at the Tom Caldwell Gallery.^[4] The exhibition included large paintings of Belfast as seen from high view-points. It was seen at the time as a unique view of this city emerging from decades of the Troubles. The urban theme continued between 2006 and 2010 when Davidson made paintings based on the illusionary world seen in city window reflections.^[5]

Recent work

Since 2010 Davidson's work has been concerned with the human face and the resulting large scale head paintings are now recognised internationally. His portraits of Brad Pitt, Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley are held in the collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, the Ulster Museum in Belfast and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin respectively.^[6][7][8]

A permanent exhibition of Davidson’s work is on display at The Lyric Theatre in Belfast, where he personally presented his work to HM The Queen and the President of Ireland during the Royal visit to Northern Ireland in 2012.^[9][10][11]

Davidson's work has been exhibited in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2011, 2012 and 2013.^[12][13] In 2012 he won the Visitors' Choice Award.^[14]

In 2014, and continuing the theme of large scale portraits, Davidson turned his attention to the ancient, mystical and multi-denominational city of Jerusalem. He travelled to the city and made paintings of twelve individuals who lived or worked there. They came from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions. Among these dozen Jerusalemites were Jews, Muslims, Christians, a politician, a monk, a doctor, a peace activist, a hotel worker, a holocaust survivor, a cross-section that lives together with conflict, prejudice and separation.^{[15][16][17][18]}

From 2014 Davidson's head paintings have become increasingly focussed on exploring our 'common humanity'.

Recent awards

• 2015 - US/Ireland Alliance Honor, Los Angeles^[19][20][21]
• 2012 - University of Ulster Distinguished Graduate of the Year Award, Belfast^[22]
• 2012 - BP Portrait Visitors' Choice Award, National Portrait Gallery, London^[14]

References