Richard Gorman grew up in Ireland and has lived and worked in Milan since the 1980s.
At that time, having abandoned the figurative residues of his first paintings, Gorman’s work became animated by the dynamic rhythm of a surface marked by lines slipping and sliding frantically across the canvass.
In the 1990s the role of lines retracted, leaving space to colour: ever since then his work draws its strength from the compositional tension created between irregular blocks of colour that become increasingly prominent and simplified and, over time, turn into his principal form of creative research. His extended and frequent travels to Japan have significantly influenced his working method and choice of materials. A clear example of this are his large scale paintings on hand made washi paper, undertaken in the far east of Japan in 1999, 2003, 2008, 2015 and 2017.
Gorman has shown his work regularly worldwide since the mid 1980s at the Kerlin Gallery in Dublin, as well as in London, Milan and Tokyo.
In 2014, Gorman became the first Irish artist to design a carré scarf for Maison Hermès. His drawings were used for the men’s Autumn/Winter 2015 collection and are displayed in the iconic Japanese Hermès department store in Isetan, Shinjuku, Tokyo.
Selected solo exhibitions:
2020: dalkey 2, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin; dalkey, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin
2019: At Home, Oscar Humphries Gallery, London; Keijo / Emotional Geometry, Chigasaki Museum, Japan
2018: Kozo, The Ballinglen Gallery, Ballycastle, Co Mayo, Ireland; Buzz and Hum, two-person exhibition with Samuel Walsh, West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Ireland
2017: 23/23, two-person exhibition with Johannes Eidt, Yanagisawa Gallery, Saitama, Japan; Buzz and Hum, two-person exhibition with Samuel Walsh, Limerick City Gallery, Limerick
2016: CASA, Castletown House, Co Kildare Iwano, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland; HAN, SO Fine Art
2015: KAN, Assab One, Milan, Italy
2014: KIN, MAC, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2012: 46/B Sowden Design Studio, Milan, Italy; Kozo, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2010: Richard Gorman, Paintings and Prints, Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Tokyo; Ashikaga City Gallery of Art, Japan Shuffle, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland
2009: Shuffle, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland; Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, Northern Ireland
2008: Valeria Bella Stampe, Italy Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2007: Richard Gorman : Œuvres nouvelles, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France Kite, Graphic Studio Gallery, Dublin, Ireland The process of painting, Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, Ireland
2006: Flyer, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2005: Paintings, Civic theatre and County Hall, Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland Amaneya Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
2004: Gallery Ihn, Seoul, Korea Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland Yanagisawa Gallery, Japan
2003: Homerun, Kerlin Gallery Dublin, Ireland Paintings and Paper Works, Koriyama City Museum of Art Koriyama, Japan Center for Contemporary Graphic Art and Tyler Graphic Archive Fukushima, Japan Yokohama Portside Gallery Yokohama, Japan; New Paintings, Galway Arts Centre, Co Galway, Ireland; New Prints, Yanagisawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Made in Japan New Works on Paper, Galerie der Spiegel, Cologne, Germany
2002 Big Blue, Mural Koriyama City Museum of Art Fukushima, Japan; New Drawings and Lithographs, Yanagisawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2001 Nine Paintings, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin and Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland Villa Pomini, Citta di Castellanza, Italy
2000 Made in Japan, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland; Limerick City Art Gallery, Limerick, Ireland; New Painting, Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
1999 Mitaka City Art Gallery of Art, Tokyo, Japan Yanagisawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Azabu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1998 Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland Itami City Gallery of Art, Osaka, Japan Yanagisawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997 Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London, UK The Sirius Project, Cobh, Cork, Ireland Yanagisawa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
