Event
An exhibition entitled Contact by Christopher Banahan is view on the Arts Corridor, University Hospital Galway until 8 December.“Contact…That was the word uttered by the inside voice when l first saw [Christopher Banahan’ s ] ‘Millennium’ – Contact. Just what prop plane pilots used to say at the precise moment of ignition. Here, it is the electrical charge of pure, unadulterated human contact. Through the portrait, human to human contact is made and rigid constructs like time and space collapse.” Alice Lyons, Poet and Visual Artist, for ‘Letterbox Memoirs’ catalogue, Hallward Gallery, March 2002.
Christopher Banahan was born in Nottingham in 1958 and raised in an Irish Catholic community. At thirteen he contracted tuberculosis and was confined to Ransom Hospital to recover in relative isolation, where art became his sole preoccupation. In 1981 he gained a 1st Class Honours B.A in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University, and an MA Fine Art, from Goldsmiths College, London in 1984. In 1990 he was awarded a Rome Scholarship in painting to the British School at Rome. This was a poignant creative period which has inspired and influenced his output to date. He moved to Dublin in 1993 and for the last ten years has been based near Kinvara, Galway.
He has works in numerous public collections, such as Microsoft Ireland, O.P.W, The Arts Council and the European Central Bank. His work has been selected for numerous open competitions such as E.V + A, C.O.E, Iontas, and The R.H.A Annual. He has exhibited in the U.S.A, at the Turner Carol Gallery, Santa FE, New Mexico and at Boston University in 1997. In the nineties he had two solo exhibitions with the Jo Rain Gallery, Dublin and four solo exhibitions with the Hallward Gallery, Dublin, including ‘Icons from the House of the Tragic Poet’ in 1999 and ‘Letterbox Memoirs’ in 2003. In 2013 he obtained an M.A in Production & Direction, from Huston Film School & Digital Media, NUI, Galway.
There is no formal launch of this exhibition but Christopher will visit UHG on Friday 21 November for a lunchtime presentation and talk about his artwork for patients and staff. Venue to be confirmed. For further information please contact Margaret Flannery at the arts office:
Tel: +353 (0)91 544979
Email: Margaret.Flannery@hse.ie
