Gillian O’Shea is an emerging visual Irish artist. In 2004 she graduated with a first-class honour’s degree in fine art interdisciplinary sculpture and she holds a Masters in Art and Research Collaboration from IADT. Over the past 10 years she has exhibited in Dublin, London and California.

Her practice explores themes of transformation and escapism through ambitious large-scale works that offer the public exciting new ways to engage with contemporary art. O’Shea’s multidisciplinary immersive installations feature paper and fabric sculptures, lighting and audio arranged to invite the viewer to escape their everyday routines.

In 2019 O’Shea’s participatory installation, ‘Dawn’ was selected for the 4th International Techstyle Art Biennial in San Jose USA, and in 2019 her ‘Lockdown’ painting work was shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland.

O' Shea's watercolour work captures the beauty and intensity of familiar subjects using a semi-representational accessible style, to evoke intense emotional responses within the viewer. The work offers a fresh, vibrant and contemporary approach to the traditional and complex medium of watercolour.

Solo Exhibitions

2023 all flesh, GOMA, Waterford

2018 Dawn, Mart Gallery and LIVESTOCK, Dublin
Monthly Exhibition, Lennons @ Visual, Carlow

2017 Vogue in the Afternoon, Kilkenny Arts Festival Fringe, Kilkenny
Titanium, Mimosa, Carlow Arts Festival Fringe, Carlow
Blush, The Pigyard Gallery, Wexford

2016 Dabble in Art, The Copperhouse Gallery, Dublin
Showcase in the Potting Shed, The Old Yard, Kildare

Selected Group Exhibitions

2021 IADT MA Graduate Exhibition, LAB Gallery, Dublin
Packed, collaboration with Nicki Crock for Riffe Gallery, Ohio, USA

2020 Zurich Portrait Prize 2020, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork
Zurich Portrait Prize 2020, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

2019 Social Commons, Liberty Hall Dublin, Dublin
Stranger Than Fiction, Millepiani, Rome, Italy
Picture Imperfect, Dlr Lexicon Gallery and LIVESTOCK, Dublin
International TECHstyle Art Biennial IV, SJMQT, San Jose, USA

2018 Watercolour Society of Ireland Annual Exhibition, Farmleigh House, Dublin
Altered, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, USA
Femme VfD - Vogue Fabrics, London, UK
140th Annual Exhibition, Dublin Painting & Sketching Club, Dublin

2017 No Fixed Abode, The Copperhouse Gallery, Dublin
Fresh Paint, Picton Gallery, Pembrokeshire, UK
Pin Up, Classic Cars West, Oakland Art Murmur, San Francisco, USA
Chelsea Fringe Festival, Oxford House, London, UK
Annual Group Exhibition Green Acres Valley, Wexford