Fergus Martin

Fergus Martin was born in Cork, Ireland. He studied painting at Dún Laoghaire School of Art from 1972 – 1976. From 1979 – 1988 he lived and worked in Italy, where he lectured in English Language at the University of Milan.

In 1988, he returned to painting and had his first solo exhibition at the Oliver Dowling Gallery, Dublin, in 1990.

In 1991, he attended The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture.

He received awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, in 1999 and 2006, and was awarded The Marten Toonder Award by The Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon in 1999.

In 2001, he was elected to Aosdána. Aosdána is an affiliation of creative artists in Ireland. It was established in 1981 by the Arts Council of Ireland to honour artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the creative arts in Ireland, and to encourage and assist members in devoting their energies fully to their art.

In 2007, his sculpture, Steel, was commissioned by the Office of Public Works, under the Per Cent for Art Scheme, as a permanent sculpture at the entrance gates to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. It was installed in 2008. In 2011, Steel was destroyed by trucks that were unable to pass through the new spaces between the gates. The sculpture has not been remade or restored to its original position.

In 2008, Martin had a major exhibition at the Hugh Lane Gallery. A survey book on Martin’s work was published by Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane on occasion of this exhibition.

In 2010, his sculpture, Lincoln Place, was commissioned for a new four-storey atrium at Dublin Dental Hospital, Trinity College, Dublin.

In 2010, he won the Curtin O’Donoghue Photography Prize at The RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin.

In 2014, he was awarded the Irish American Cultural Institute O’Malley Award.

Martin’s solo exhibition, Outside Inside, was held at Green on Red Gallery, Dublin in 2014.

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