Bio
William O’Neill is a visual artist living and working in Meath, Ireland. He graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art Painting from the National College of Art and Design in 2009.
His paintings are process driven. He meticulously creates still life scenes which he photographs and works from. He’s interested in these still life arrangements for their angles, shapes, the positive/negative space they create, how the objects interact with each other and their potential as subject matter.
‘Luminous Gatherings’ his first solo exhibition took place at Kevin Kavanagh Gallery in April 2022. He was the recipient of the Solstice Visual Arts Award at Solstice Arts Centre (2021). In 2019, he was shortlisted for the RHA Hennessy Craig Award. Group exhibitions include, Surveyor 2022, Surveyor 2021, Surveyor 2020, Solstice Arts Centre, (2020, 2021 & 2022); 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st & 193rd RHA Annual Exhibitions, RHA (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2023); 139th RUA Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, (2020); Winter Open 2019, Rua Red, (2019); Island Life, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery (2018); Island Life, Custom House Studios (2018).
CV
Born 1986, Dublin, Ireland. Lives and works in Meath.
Education
BA Fine Art Painting, NCAD, Dublin, Graduated 2009
Awards
Agility Award, The Arts Council, 2023
Solstice Visual Arts Award, Surveyor 2021, Solstice Arts Centre, Meath 2021
AXA Insurance Purchase Award, 2009
Shortlisted
RHA Hennessy Craig Award 2019, RHA, Dublin 2019
Solo Exhibitions
‘Luminous Gatherings’, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin 2022
Selected Group Exhibitions
Open Submission Group Show 2023, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Laois, 2023
Connections, Boyle Arts Festival 2023, Roscommon, 2023
193rd RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin, 2023
Surveyor 2022, Solstice Arts Centre, Meath, 2022
Annual Art Exhibition 2022, Mason Hayes & Curran, Dublin, 2022
Surveyor 2021, Solstice Arts Centre, Meath, 2021
191st RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin, 2021
Surveyor 2020, Solstice Arts Centre, Meath, 2020
139th RUA Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy of Arts, Belfast, 2020
190th RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin, 2020
Winter Open 2019, Rua Red, Dublin, 2019
RHA Hennessy Craig Award exhibition 2019, RHA, Dublin, 2019
189th RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin, 2019
Christmas / Winter Group Show, Custom House Studios and Gallery, Mayo, 2018
Island Life, Custom House Studios and Gallery, Mayo, 2018
Island Life, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, 2018
188th RHA Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin, 2018
Cordially Yours, Camel Art Space, New York, USA, 2011
Mailto:, Drift Station Gallery+Performance Space, Nebraska, USA, 2011
Summer Group Show, Nag, The Cross Gallery, Dublin, 2011
Ingrid Lyons & William O’Neill, Monster Truck Gallery, Dublin, 2010
Spaced Out, Pretty Vacant at the Ilac, Dublin, 2010
Hooverville, The Sycamore Arts Club, Dublin, 2009
Summer Group Show, Nag, The Cross Gallery, Dublin, 2009
NCAD Graduate Exhibition 2009, NCAD, Dublin, 2009
Indecision, Broadstone Studios and Gallery, Dublin, 2008
Residencies
Joya: arte + ecología / AiR, Almeria, Spain, 2023
Collections
AXA Insurance Ireland
Meath County Council
OPW (Office of Public Works)
Wesley College
Private collections in Ireland, Europe & USA
Bibliography/Press
William O’Neill Paintings, artist book, Published by Kevin Kavanagh, 2023
2022: A Year in Review, MADE IN BED magazine, January 2023
191st RHA Annual Exhibition catalogue, 2021
‘What Lies Beneath’ People&Culture, Niall MacMonagle, The Sunday Independent, September 2021
‘Reverie as Resistance: William O’Neill’, Ingrid Lyons, Mirror Lamp Press - No.1 HAPPINESS, 2021
‘SURVEYOR 2020’, Catherine Marshall, Solstice Arts Centre, 2020
‘RHA exhibition shows painting is a broad-brush church’, Aidan Dunne, The Irish Times, 2nd September 2019
188th RHA Annual Exhibition catalogue, 2018
‘What Lies Beneath’ Living section, Niall MacMonagle, The Sunday Independent, May 2012
‘Poetry Now’ 2012, work features on both academic level publications 2012
‘Take in a really Spaced – Out exhibition in the Ilac center’ Weekender Supplement, The Irish Independent, 2010
Book Fairs
Dublin Art Book Fair 2023: Polyphonic, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin, 2023
Tsundoku Art Book Fair, Dublin, 2023
Artist Talks
Artist: Process & Media, Guest speaker at Wesley College Dublin, 2022
William O’Neill and Geraldine O’Neill: In Conversation, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, 2022
‘Ultraviolet Art Talks’ Season 1, via ultravioletarttalks instagram, 2020
RHA, artists in conversation with Abigail O’Brien & Patrick T Murphy for RHA Hennessy Craig Award Exhibition, 2019
RHA, select artists in conversation with Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh for ART Form Evening tours of the RHA 189th Annual Exhibition, 2019
Custom House Studios and Gallery, artists in conversation with Kevin Kavanagh for Island Life, 2018
Previous Employment/Experience
The Met Store, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2010
Invigilator at Monster Truck Gallery, Dublin 2010
Invigilator at NCAD Gallery, Dublin 2009