A Life in Paint: Retrospective of Artist Patrick Reel opens at Dublin Castle

(Artist Patrick Reel (left) is pictured with John O’Hagan (right), Trinity College Dublin, and Professor Ian Robertson at The Office of Public Works’ (OPW) opening of ‘A Life in Paint’, a retrospective of his work at the State Apartment Galleries, Dublin Castle. PHOTO: Mark Stedman)

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has opened ‘A Life in Paint’ by artist Patrick Reel at the State Apartment Galleries, Dublin Castle.

Born in 1935, the artist’s ‘life in paint’ encompasses a creative journey that spans over 60 years and still reflects, in his most recent works, his ongoing energy and enthusiasm for the medium of paint.

This retrospective provides an opportunity to bring the significant body of a lifetime’s work to new audiences and share with them the life-affirming development of Patrick Reel’s creativity.

Some of his paintings in the last five or so years are arguably some of the best works of art he has ever produced.

Reel, who in 1968 exhibited as part of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art alongside Louis le Brocquy, Mainie Jellett and others, had a solo exhibition of his abstract work in the prestigious Project Arts Centre in 1973.

In 1976, he opened the Oriel Gallery, his own gallery and professional art supplies shop in a converted stables attached to his home in Navan.

Artist Patrick Reel, right, is pictured with Dave Hartley (OPW) at The Office of Public Works’ (OPW) opening of ‘A Life in Paint’, a retrospective of his work at the State Apartment Galleries, Dublin Castle. PHOTO: Mark Stedman

It remains today as one of the longest running private galleries in Ireland and enjoys great support locally, making paintings accessible and normalising for people the act of looking at art and the craft of the artist.

Speaking ahead of the opening, Ian Robertson, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, said:

“This assembly of paintings across Patrick’s life offers an exceptional starting point to discuss the brain and creativity.

“As part of Trinity College’s Creative Brain Week, I very much look forward to exploring in conversation with my colleague Nicholas Johnson, Beckett expert and member of the neuro-humanities group, next Wednesday here in Dublin Castle how the brain’s creativity is understood to evolve over time.”

Rural Ireland has been fortunate that both Patrick Reel and his sister Esther have contributed a lasting and living cultural legacy in the town of Navan with their enigmatic and beguiling Ludlow Street home.

However, while having his own gallery gave Reel the freedom to curate his own work and connect directly with his audience, it also meant his name and work are possibly less well-known than if he had gallery representation in Dublin or Belfast and the physical and virtual online exposure an external agent could bring.

Working with the curatorial team in Dublin Castle and the artist himself, curator John O’Hagan has carefully documented Reel’s back catalogue of work and pieced together the history of his career using photographs, letters, archives and memory.

The resulting retrospective shines a light over decades of production across several genres and shows how his observational skill, draughtsmanship, his love of his native town Navan and of nature, the mystical majesty of the primeval Boyne landscape and inherited archaeology all leave a distinctive trace in his entire oeuvre, always moving the work forward, searching for new ways to express and release the creativity within.