Michael McGuire

A selection of Michael McGuire’s paintings are on show at Art Upstairs in Wexford town for Wexford Opera Festival 2009. Continue reading for more details about Michael

“Painting The Light” was Michael McGuire's first solo exhibition in May 2009 at Art Upstairs.

Michael McGuire’s paintings are full of light and energy and each one captures a particular moment when he has seen exactly the right thing to paint, whether that is a breathtaking vista or a rock outcrop. The title of his exhibition, “Painting The Light”, tells us exactly how Michael approaches the making of each painting, he observes closely and then paints the light he has seen. This approach results in joyful paintings that evoke the feeling of the elements he celebrates: daylight, open space, earth, sky and water.

His fascination with capturing light reminds us of Michael McGuire’s greatest influence, the French Impressionists and in particular Claude Monet. Michael works both as a plein-air (outdoor) artist, usually working on small paintings (12'' X 9.5'') and as a studio artist, creating large format landscapes and still life studies, and adopts the same approach in each - capturing the authentic light that he sees in his chosen subject.

Many people will have seen Michael McGuire painting at locations throughout County Wexford. Anytime the sun shines Michael is likely to be out there making one of his paintings. The light in Ireland is constantly changing and therefore the scene Michael first observes may change many times before the painting is complete. For many painters the changing light spells disaster, not so for Michael McGuire; he constantly observes and re-assesses what he needs to do to make a successful painting and perhaps it is this constant decision making that give his paintings such life and energy. Visitors to the gallery will often spend a long time observing each painting, wondering what exactly it is about them that makes them so alive and attractive.

Michael McGuire was born in Sneem, Co Kerry in 1956, but spent most of his childhood and formative years in the Killarney area. While interested in drawing and painting from early childhood, he really only began to have some commercial success in the 1980s.

Around that time he focussed mainly on landscapes of the rugged coastline of his native county and other West of Ireland scenes. In the 1980s and 1990s his work was frequently exhibited in galleries such as Kenny’s (Galway), the Frank Lewis Gallery (Killarney) and the Oisin Gallery (Dublin). Working as a part-time artist, Michael juggled his artwork with a demanding day job and in the late 1990’s, a decision to relocate to the South East coupled with a heavy workload, forced him to stop painting for a few years.

However, that decision had a profound and positive impact in that it gave him time to give serious consideration to what he wanted, both artistically and career-wise. Already quite an accomplished landscape artist, Michael had become drawn to the work of the French impressionists and that of Claude Monet in particular and increasingly felt that his paintings lacked the authentic quality of light evident in Monet’s work. A chance glance at a book by Californian plein-air artist, Suzan Sarback, led him to undertake a series of intensive workshops at her school in Fair Oaks in Northern California. Sarbach, teaches her students to accurately observe the effect sunlight has on the local colour of objects giving a vibrancy and realism often lacking in traditional landscape painting.

The absolute requirement to work plein air makes this difficult in the Irish environment, but Michael was so absorbed by what he learned in California, that he resolved to stick with it. It just requires discipline and the drive to go out and paint whenever the weather permits, whether that be in summer or winter. His commitment was further evidenced in January 2007, when he resigned from his position as Regional Director / South East, for Enterprise Ireland, in order to pursue his life-long ambition to paint full-time.

Most recently Michael’s work was displayed during the Wexford Opera Festival in both Art Upstairs’ Galleries (Wexford and Rosslare) and at the Vocational College Exhibition.