Ciaran Magill Biography

Born 1978 in Newry, Northern Ireland, Ciaran Magill studied Fashion at Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication in London before returning to the Belfast School of Art & Design in 2006 to complete a BA (Hons) degree in Fine and Applied Arts. His paintings and drawings are held in many private, public and corporate collections, most notably DIAGEO, the world's leading premium drinks business. He was also the recipient of the 2009 DIAGEO Northern Ireland emerging artist award.

Magill's psychological landscapes explore isolation, eerienss and a strong sense of foreboding. His conceptual figurative works focus on issues of gender and sexuality.

Recent international group exhibitions include the Sal Art Gallery at Long Island University (New York) John Erickson Museum of Art (Florida) and Raccolte Frugone Museum, Genoa (Italy). In Northern Ireland he has shown in many group exhibitions at the Ormeau Baths Gallery, Golden Thread Gallery, Catalyst Arts, ArtTank and Naughton Gallery at Queen's University Belfast.

The provocative exhibition isn't for the faint of heart, but is well-worth challenging your preconceptions

Admittance to Warning! This is Contemporary Art at the Crescent Art Centre is ‘strictly limited to over 18s only’. Determined to avoid ‘safe’ art, the Warning Art curator Brendan Jamison has collected works dealing with sexuality, gender and mortality from controversial national and international artists.

So, should visitors to the newly opened exhibition, which takes over the space on the second floor where the Dickon Hall Gallery was situated, prepare to be shocked? Well, maybe. There are certainly a few sets of genitalia on display – male, female and in transition – in the three brightly lit, white walled rooms of the gallery but it would be a stretch to describe this bold exhibition as salacious or particularly titillating. The imagery and concepts range from the provocative to the tender, but none of it seems designed to arouse.

In fact, a few of the pieces are likely to have the opposite effect. ‘The Sperm Harvesters’ in the second room is a pencil and paper drawing by Lydia Holmes that depicts penes sprouting from a desert landscape, with miniature women climbing on and lassoing them.

The drawing was inspired by stories of the Zimbabwean ‘Sugar Mamas’, who kidnap and sexually assault men in order to steal semen for unknown uses (theories range from ritual magic to face cream). Despite the dark theme, the piece itself is bizarrely cheerful, with one little woman waving her arms triumphantly from atop the glans.

Other pieces on display take a more positive approach to sexuality. Ciaran Magill’s nudes are beautiful and approachable, with his portrait of a transsexual caught on the liminal edge of gender identity. There is something tender in the painting of two male nudes in a room. The soft greys and yellow undertones they are drawn in give the captured moment a soft, pre-dawn feel.

Not everything in the Warning Art Gallery is particularly to this critic’s personal tastes. There is nothing in the exhibition that is easy to pass with only a cursory look. Clearly, from the red stickers marking a lot of the art as sold, other visitors to the gallery agree. It seems that Jamison was right about there being a market for edgier works.

Warning! This is Contemporary Art is at the Crescent Art Centre until June 15.

Warning! This is Contemporary Art:

a new exhibition shakes up the

Belfast art scene

By Jenni Davidson| 30 May 2012

WARNING! This is Contemporary Art, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, until June 15 2012

An x-rated art exhibition is challenging the boundaries of the Northern Irish contemporary art scene.

WARNING! This is Contemporary Art, which takes place in the Crescent Arts Centre, contains a series of sexually explicit and psychologically dark works focusing on alternative representations of the human body and its functions.

Monday to Saturday 10.30am-5.30pm (Fridays until 8pm). Over-18s only. Entry free.

BERLIN (2010) Ciaran Magill, oil on canvas, 70 x 100 cms

Visitors to the sculpture studio often become absorbed by the paintings hanging on the walls, the works being regularly rotated from my ever-expanding art collection. Collecting art is a pure passion and some of Northern Ireland’s emerging artists are making works of a strong international standard. The artist who often draws the most intrigue is Ciaran Magill (born in 1978, lives in Kilkeel) A graduate of the University of Ulster in 2009 and recipient of the DIAGEO N.I. award for ‘Emerging Artist of the Year.” Described by renowned painter Neil Shawcross as ‘a genius’ back when he studied under him on the foundation course in 1998, Magill is a painter who has mastered the art of spooky landscapes through edgy layering effects, strong depth and an accomplished use of line. Desolate and haunting, they exude an hypnotic charm. Over the past two years he has exhibited internationally in New York and Italy, while closer to home, he has shown in many significant group exhibitions at Golden Thread, Ormeau Baths Gallery, ArtTank, Catalyst Arts and the Naughton Gallery.

Of the 19 works I have already collected from this artist, two thirds are of his magnificent landscapes, the others are explorations of the male nude, with influence drawn from Egon Schiele, Hernan Bas and Tracey Emin. Magill’s new figurative works will be displayed in a group exhibition titled ‘Warning! This is Contemporary Art’ which opens on Friday May 25 in Belfast. Also that month, the artist’s second solo exhibition at Down Arts Centre titled ‘Spooky Hypnotic’ will open on Friday May 11 and is highly anticipated.

ECHO (2010) Ciaran Magill, oil on canvas, 60 x 90 cms

EERIE TWILIGHT (2010) Ciaran Magill, drawing on card, 25 x 30 cms