Patric Coogan Studio Sale

Patric Coogan
1935-2025
Painter

The work of Patric Coogan is a fascinating rediscovery of a talented draughtsman and realist painter. A grainer's son born in Dunlewey Street off the Falls Road in 1935, Coogan's oeuvre represents a personal response by a Belfast artist living through the troubles. His paintings are a rarity to come across and despite a limited number of exhibitions, his output of work has not been small. On the rare occasion of exhibiting at The Cavehill Gallery in 1987, Ciaran McKeown described Coogan's hesitancy to even title, sign and frame his work affirming to his reclusive nature as an artist. Many will be familiar with the Coogan painting illustrated on the back cover of Mike Catto's 'Art in Ulster: 2', but this may be the extent of their awareness regarding his work.

Coogan attended the Ulster College of Art and Design as a mature student during which Charles Oakley was a senior lecturer. Oakley's representational studies of derelict Irish cottages for surrealist ends parallels Coogan's use of Belfast streets to capture emotion and provoke contemplation. Coogan's most prevalent artistic education came from meeting John Luke during the 1960s. It was Luke's The Rehearsal exhibited at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery which made a striking impression on Coogan. As an eager student, Coogan and Luke became close friends, with the artist embodying many of Luke's teachings. This comparison was affirmed by John Hewitt after viewing an exhibition of Coogan at the Ulster Arts Club. Hewitt declared 'Very good. He's very good indeed. Of course he was influenced by John Luke. He's kind of Buddhist, like Luke.'

There is not a particularly explicit reflection of the troubles in Coogan's work, but it is present through motifs, symbols and personally relevant associations, like figures hidden in shadows, a cat passing by, or abandoned cardboard boxes. The symbol of a discarded rubbish bag appears across Coogan's paintings. Mike Catto described its significance: 'That polythene bag in the work reproduced may just be a bag full of rubbish; it might be a bomb or even the remains of a body. Every supposition, every connotation is valid but Coogan gives us no clue to work on. Emotion is not supressed completely but it is held in check.' Some scenes suggest the unsettling aftermath of conflict with abandoned streets and derelict houses, yet others convey simple daily life outside green grocers with bustling figures completing daily errands.

Still life studies are testament to Coogan's ability to skilfully create interesting compositions. Playing with mirror reflections and complex shadows reflects a realist history from Renaissance paintings, pushing the boundaries of a composition in relation to the viewer. Similarly, his portraits and nude studies show the foundational techniques for capturing human experience and emotion which translate to his later street scenes.

Throughout the late twentieth century, it was shocking to some critics that artists continued to cling to the representational and figurative when abstract expressionist was becoming academic doctrine. To paint traditional subjects in a realist style, in fact, became something new and unexpected. This was not following the concerns of academia, but in Coogan's instance, producing recognisable local scenes for local people. By experiencing first-hand the transformation of Belfast and depicting the daily life of working-class areas during the Troubles, Coogan continued in the tradition of the French realists like Courbet, to the more local William Conor, in depicting real subjects with empathy and humanity.

Ross's, November 2025