Daithí Holohan (born 1956) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

artist from Kilkenny. Specialising in

portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

, he also does landscape and

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

. Holohan studied Fine Art Painting at the

National College of Art and Design The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of th ...

(NCAD) and graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in 1978. Campbell Bruce, former NCAD Professor of Painting, said of his work: "Firstly the psychological interaction between artist and sitter is revealed. They are almost entirely people known to him before he decides to do a drawing, usually quite small, always observed with great precision. The intensity of the drawing process is immediately apparent and to be subjected to such scrutiny must t times be most uncomfortable for the sitter, for who knows what may be revealed." He added: "They have become technically more accomplished, more human in understanding and they now have a density that is rare in contemporary portraiture." In 1988,

Aidan Dunne Aidan Dunne is a visual arts critic and contributor to ''The Irish Times.'' Education Dunne is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Career Aidan Dunne has written regularly for ''The Irish Times'' for decades. He ...

(writing in the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to t ...

'') described him as an 'instinctive naturalist with a good eye . ... sincerely an artist of promise'. Holohan's first major retrospective occurred in 2004. He stood as a candidate in the

2014 Kilkenny County Council election An election to Kilkenny County Council took place on 23 May 2014 as part of that year's Irish local elections. 24 councillors were elected from three electoral divisions by PR-STV voting for a five-year term of office, a reduction of 2 seats f ...

and the

2015 Carlow–Kilkenny by-election A by-election was held in the Dáil Éireann Carlow–Kilkenny (Dáil constituency), Carlow–Kilkenny constituency in Republic of Ireland, Ireland on Friday, 22 May 2015, to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Fine Gael Teachta Dála (T ...

. During the latter campaign he made a notorious appearance on ''

Tonight with Vincent Browne ''Tonight with Vincent Browne'', (formerly ''Nightly News with Vincent Browne''), was a news analysis, current affairs and politics programme which was broadcast on Ireland's TV3 from 2007 to July 2017. Its time on air coincided with the prem ...

'', where he was repeatedly chastised by the moderator for interrupting other candidates. Experiences of life in

psychiatric hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociat ...

s feature in his work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holohan, Daithi Living people Alumni of the National College of Art and Design Irish portrait painters People from Kilkenny (city) People with bipolar disorder University of Minnesota alumni 1956 births Artists from County Kilkenny