Brian Bourke RHA

Brian Bourke was born in Dublin in 1936 and was educated in the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and also St Martin’s School of Art in London. In 1965, Bourke was chosen to represent Ireland at the Paris Biennale and the Lugano Exhibition of Graphics, he won the arts council portrait competition, the Munster and Leinster bank competition in 1966 and also first prize in the Irish Exhibition of Living Art competition in 1967.

As a result of all of his achievements, Brian was the Sunday Independent Artist of the Year and was awarded the O’Malley Award from the Irish-American Cultural Institute in 1993. He is mainly known for his painting and drawings and having a distinct sense of humour but he has been known to experiment.

Brian now lives in a place, which he describes as a ‘place of small rough fields and windblown trees, very rural, with more horses than people.’ Otherwise known as Connemara.  In an exhibition called ‘Manhattan Vertigo’ he showed his progression from landscape to urban scenes and a very fresh approach.