About
Ciana Fitzgerald is an Irish representational painter and experimental filmmaker. She graduated from NCAD with a first-class honours in Fine Art Painting and spent the next three years living and working in Germany. In 2022 she was the winner of the Art Riddler exhibition competition held at Studio 10, Dublin, and at the Art Riddler show 2023 was awarded automatic entry to the 2024 exhibition as one of the 6 finalists. In 2021 she was awarded first prize in the Contemporary Art Award 2021 juried by some of the finest contemporary painters working today, and has been shortlisted for the RDS Visual Art Award, Jackson’s Painting Prize, the Talbot Gallery Award, Peggy Walsh Mentorship award and nominated for the NCAD Staff Prize.
Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally, recent exhibitions have included the 190th, 191st and 192nd RHA Annual exhibition, solo show at Atelier Andersartig in Solingen Germany, group shows at the CICA Museum in South Korea, screenings at LOOP festival Barcelona in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes.
Ciana has given artist talks on her practice at the Science Gallery, Trinity College, and the Guinness Storehouse on Culture Night 2021. She has been the recipient of bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland, Creative Ireland, Wexford County Council, Dublin City Council and Dun-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.
Statement
My creative practice focuses on methodical explorations of communicating what is difficult to put into words. The internalised experience is at the forefront of my artistic inquiry, expressed through wordless exchanges, ephemeral glances and ambiguous symbolism.
Working intuitively through representational painting and experimental video-art, each highly staged composition tensely weaves cryptic narratives that long to be deciphered. Every element within the frame of sight has an intentional relevance, although equally as important is what is left out of the frame. Within the scenarios depicted, subtle inclinations of an underlying narrative imbued with psychological tension is perpetually omnipresent, complete with ulterior motives, racing thoughts and indecisive actions. I am interested in what is not said or shared openly, of the spaces in between, the dark matter of articulation.
While both paint and film focus on the epicentre of a state of heightened emotion, they are polar opposites in terms of execution. Though they both focus on similar themes of isolation, loneliness and alienation, their methodology differs entirely in terms of creative restraint. When I paint I must do so alone in isolation, each work is pre-meditated and calculated, with a clear view of the end goal. The works encompass an interiority of space, with familiar scenarios and gestures injected with an esoteric quality that unsettles and unnerves. Often, I will remove backgrounds and leave a vacant space for the characters involved to be immersed in so the dialogue between the figures is the primary focus, much like in a play or stage drama. When working in film however, the background is everything. It becomes the foreground of imagination. I am consistently drawn to empty public spaces, from vast landscapes devoid of any signs of habitation to deserted train stations right before closing time. Rarely do the characters involved speak, words are not a bartering tool of wants and needs in that universe. Instead, the films are possessed with obscurely vivid emotions that must learn to speak for themselves, always yearning to capture that bittersweet ache that can only come as a result of experiencing true earth-shattering darkness.
CV
Lectures/Artist talks:
2021 – First Day Gallery x Culture night artist talk with Ciana Fitzgerald, Guinness Storehouse, Dublin
2018 – INTIMACY: Intimate Art – A conversation with Ciana Fitzgerald, The Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin
Funding/Grants:
2023 – Bursary Award, Dun Laoghaire County Council
2022 – Agility Award, Irish Arts Council
2022 – Visual Art Bursary Award, Dublin City Council
2021 – Agility Award, Irish Arts Council
2020 – Covid-19 Response Award, Irish Arts Council
2020 – Creative Ireland & Wexford County Council Artist Bursary
Residencies:
2024 – Sím Residency, Reykjavik, Iceland (forthcoming)
2024 – La Wayaka Current 23°S Desert Residency, Atacama Desert, Chile (forthcoming)
2022 – Creation Residency at the Irish Aerial Creation Centre, Limerick
2020 – SPAR Virtual Residency, St.Petersburg Art Residency
Selected awards:
The Contemporary Art Award Winner with Contemporary Paintings Gallery
The Art Riddler Exhibition Winner 2022 & 2023 finalist
Jackson’s Painting Prize shortlist 2022 & 2023
The Peggy Walsh Mentorship Award nominee with Screen Wexford
RDS Visual Art Awards shortlist
Talbot Gallery Award shortlist
The National College of Art and Design Staff Prize nominee
First Class honours BA Hons in Fine Art Painting, The National College of Art & Design, Dublin
Selected Screenings:
2022 – Experimental Film and Video Exhibition, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, South Korea
2020 – Homeland ‘Borderline’, at Damer House Gallery Tipperary, The institute Cervantes Dublin & LOOP Festival, Barcelona
2018 – ‘Craw Festival’ Kultstätte Keller, Karl-Marx-Straße 52, Berlin
2018 – ‘In-Vision’ Video art and Creative Film Festival, The Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin
2017 – ‘Soul Noir’ Festival of the Dark Arts, No.13 North Great Georges Street, Dublin
2016 – ‘Short Cinema Expo’ Atelier014, Hardebollenstraat 10, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2015 – D E E P: Transmission 1, Brooklyn, New York City
Solo Exhibitions:
2024 – Aphelion, solo show, Studio 10, Dublin (Forthcoming)
2019 – Solo Show, Atelier Andersartig, Solingen, Germany
Selected group shows:
2023 – Chronic Collective – Networking for sick & disabled artists, Firestation Studios, Dublin
2023 – Samhain, The Copperhouse Gallery, Dublin
2023 – The Art Riddler Exhibition, Studio 10, Dublin
2023 – Galway Arts Festival Group Show, Kenny Gallery, Galway
2023 – Dessel Irish Modern and Contemporary Art Auction Exhibition, Herman’s Auctioneers, Dublin
2022 – RHA 192nd Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2022 – Páipéir Group Show, Hangtough Gallery, Dublin
2022 – Art Riddler Exhibition, Studio 10, Wicklow Street, Dublin
2022 – Kunst:Raum:Klinik, Junges Theater, Karlstraße, Leverkusen, Germany
2021 – RHA 191st Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2021 – Circuit Arts Group Exhibition, 126 Gallery, Galway
2020 – RHA 190th Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy,Dublin
2020 – Identity, Bos Gallery, Dublin
2019 – Solinger Lichternacht 2019, Atelier Andersartig, Solingen, Germany
2019 – Public Nightmares Private Dreams lighting & aesthetics engineer, Pfefferberg Theatre, Berlin
2018 – Irish International Opera Festival Exhibition, Greenacres Gallery, Wexford, Ireland
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