Charles Tyrrell is an Irish painter and printmaker born in

Trim Trim or TRIM may refer to: Cutting * Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them ** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process ** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees Decoration * Trim (sewing), or ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

in 1950. Tyrrell graduated from

NCAD The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of th ...

in 1974. In 1984 Tyrell moved to

Allihies Allihies (; ) is a townland in the civil parish of Kilnamanagh, in County Cork, Ireland. The townland of Allihies is located at the western tip of the Beara Peninsula. History of copper mining From the Bronze Age the area had been a site of co ...

on the

Beara Peninsula Beara ( ga, Béarra) or the Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" (actually a bay) to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It contains two mountain ranges running down it ...

West Cork West Cork ( ga, Iarthar Chorcaí) is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownbe ...

where he lives and works. He exhibits regularly at the

Taylor Galleries Taylor Galleries is a contemporary commercial art gallery in Dublin, Ireland. History Taylor Galleries opened in July 1978 ostensibly as a continuation of the Dawson Gallery – a gallery established by Leo Smith in 1944. John Taylor – wh ...

, Dublin and is a member of

Aosdána Aosdána ( , ; from , 'people of the arts') is an Irish association of artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers with support from the country's Arts Council. Membership, which is by invitation from current member ...

. He represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1982 His work is in the collection of both

Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art ( ga, Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann) also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. Located in Kilmainham, Dublin, the Museum pr ...

and the

Hugh Lane Gallery The Hugh Lane Gallery, officially Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and originally the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, is an art museum operated by Dublin City Council and its subsidiary, the Hugh Lane Gallery Trust. It is in Charlemont House ( ...

. His first solo exhibition took place in the

Project Arts Centre Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary arts centre based in Temple Bar, Dublin, which hosts visual arts, theatre, dance, music, and performance. History Project Arts Centre was founded by Jim FitzGerald and Colm O'Briain in 1967 after a thr ...

, Dublin in 1974 Tyrrell taught at the Dun Laoghaire School of Art from 1977 to 1981. Tyrrell was nominated for the Savills Art Prize in 2017.

Materials and Process

In the early 1980s, when St Peter's Church on Aungier Street in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

was being demolished Tyrrell salvaged timber from the building which became the material for a series of three-dimensional paintings. When working with wood Tyrrell uses number of techniques as well as applying paint including cutting, scoring, burning and sanding. In addition to painting on wood and canvas in around the year 2000 Tyrrell began to make paintings on aluminium. For two years from 2013, he worked exclusively on aluminium. Describing his work on aluminium in 2014 Tyrrell said “The core of these pieces is that I work with metal spatulas and lay on paint...It's a very particular engagement with the paint. Laying it on, scraping it off. Laying on a lot and pulling back, and allowing the metal come through. It's a constant process of laying on and removing paint and, very often, just leaving these very little thin, residual lines. It was like drawing with paint in a very particular kind of way, using these metal spatulas.” Tyrell has also exhibited drawings both on paper and directly on gallery walls.

Influences

Tyrrell visited America in the 80s and has cited Colour Field Painters Kenneth Nolan and

Morris Louis Morris Louis Bernstein (November 28, 1912 – September 7, 1962), known professionally as Morris Louis, was an American painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. While living in Washington, D.C ...

as well as

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

, and the

Abstract Expressionists Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

more generally as early influences. He has referenced

Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

and the artist

Sol LeWitt Solomon "Sol" LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007) was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he pref ...

in particular as influences saying “Minimalism is my base line. Looking at Sol Lewitt I appreciate its mathematical reductivism but I always come forward from that.” He has also said that ancient Assyrian relief sculpture had influenced his work in an interview with Brian McAvera.

Critical response

Patrick T. Murphy, director of the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

has written “Charles Tyrrell is probably the best painter of his generation in Ireland”

Aidan Dunne Aidan Dunne is a visual arts critic and contributor to ''The Irish Times.'' Education Dunne is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Career Aidan Dunne has written regularly for ''The Irish Times'' for decades. He w ...

, who has written extensively on Tyrrell's work in both catalogue essays and in the Irish Times has said Tyrrell's work should be viewed in the context of such artists as

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in West Norwood, No ...

Agnes Martin Agnes Bernice Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004), was an American abstract painter. Her work has been defined as an "essay in discretion on inward-ness and silence". Although she is often considered or referred to as a minimalist, Mart ...

Giorgio Morandi Giorgio Morandi (July 20, 1890 – June 18, 1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life. His paintings are noted for their tonal subtlety in depicting simple subjects, which were limited mainly to vases, bottles, b ...

and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyrrell, Charles 1950 births Modern painters 20th-century Irish painters 21st-century Irish painters Irish male painters Modern printmakers Irish contemporary artists 20th-century printmakers Living people 20th-century Irish male artists People from Trim, County Meath Artists from County Meath