Colin Davidson (born 1968) is a Northern Irish visual artist, living and working near

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland. An artist who works in themes, his recent large-scale head paintings have been exhibited worldwide.

Education

Davidson was born in

in 1968 and attended

Methodist College Belfast Methodist College Belfast (MCB), locally known as Methody, is a co-educational voluntary grammar school in Belfast, located at the foot of the Malone Road, Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1865 by the Methodist Church in Ireland and is one of e ...

between 1980 and 1987. He graduated from the

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

in 1991 with a first class honours degree in design. He worked in the field of design for print until 1999 when he started to paint full-time. Davidson is an academician of the

Royal Ulster Academy The Royal Ulster Academy (RUA) has existed in one form or another since 1879. It started life then, as The Belfast Ramblers' Sketching Club drawn from the staff of Marcus Ward & Co who held their first show in Ward's Library on Botanic Avenue in 1 ...

and served as president of the

between 2012 and 2015.

Early work

Davidson started to paint Belfast in his teens, and this theme came to the fore in 2004 when his exhibition ''No Continuing City'' was mounted at the Tom Caldwell Gallery. The exhibition included large paintings of Belfast as seen from high view-points. The urban theme continued between 2006 and 2010 when Davidson made paintings based on the illusionary world seen in city window reflections.

Portraits

Since 2010 Davidson's work has been concerned with the human face and the resulting large scale head paintings are now recognised internationally. His portraits of

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

and

Michael Longley Michael George Longley (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am movi ...

are held in the collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

in Belfast and the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

in Dublin respectively. A permanent exhibition of Davidson's work is on display at

Lyric Theatre, Belfast The Lyric Theatre, or simply The Lyric, is the principal, full-time producing theatre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. In January 2023 it won The Stage's Theatre of the Year award in recognition of "its programme...as well as for its online festiva ...

, where he personally presented his work to

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She had been queen regnant of 32 sovere ...

and the

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

during the Royal visit to Northern Ireland in 2012. Davidson's work has been exhibited in the BP Portrait Award at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

in London in 2011, 2012 and 2013.In 2012 he won the Visitors' Choice Award. In December 2015 Davidson was commissioned by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine to paint German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

, for the cover for its " Person of the Year" issue. In 2016, Davidson was commissioned to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II for

Co-operation Ireland Co-operation Ireland is a non-political and non-denominational charity dedicated to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Much of Co-operation Ireland's work focuses on bringing the two main communities in North ...

. This painting was unveiled at Crosby Hall in London by the Queen in November 2016. In the same year, he portrayed

Jamie Dornan James Peter Maxwell Dornan (; born 1 May 1982) is an actor, model, and musician from Northern Ireland. The recipient of two Irish Film and Television Awards, he has been nominated for a BAFTA Television Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 202 ...

which he unveiled in his studio that year. In 2017, the National Portrait Gallery unveiled Davidson's portrait of

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

, a painting which has been acquired for its collection. In 2019,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

unveiled an official portrait painted by Davidson. The painting now hangs in the Clinton Foundation, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Jerusalem

In 2014, and continuing the theme of large scale portraits, Davidson turned his attention to the city of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He made paintings of twelve individuals who lived or worked in the city. They came from different backgrounds, cultures and traditions. Among these dozen Jerusalemites were Jews, Muslims, Christians, a politician, a monk, a doctor, a peace activist, a hotel worker and a Holocaust survivor. In 2017, the exhibition went on tour to London and New York, where it was shown at

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the You ...

Silent Testimony

Davidson's 2015 exhibition of portrait paintings entitled 'Silent Testimony' tells the stories of eighteen people who are connected by their individual experiences of loss through Northern Ireland's 30 years of violence known as

the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...

. This exhibition was on show at the

Belfast during 2015, before embarking on a tour which included the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris and

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle () is a major Government of Ireland, Irish government complex, conference centre, and tourist attraction. It is located off Dame Street in central Dublin. It is a former motte-and-bailey castle and was chosen for its position at ...

. The Exhibition was on display in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

at the Nerve Visual Gallery in Ebrington Square in 2018 and at The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire in 2019. In 2018, the Irish and British Missions to

The United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among ...

invited Davidson to show the exhibition and speak at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Awards and honours

* 2021 – Davidson was named as Chancellor of

Ulster University Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

. * 2016 – Davidson was awarded an honorary doctorate from

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

for distinction in art. * 2015 – US/Ireland Alliance Honor, Los Angeles * 2012 – University of Ulster Distinguished Graduate of the Year Award, Belfast * 2012 – BP Portrait Visitors' Choice Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidson, Colin 1968 births Living people 20th-century Irish painters Irish male painters Alumni of Ulster University Artists from Belfast Irish contemporary artists Irish portrait painters People educated at Methodist College Belfast Members of the Royal Ulster Academy 20th-century Irish male artists