WORKS
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Asteroids on My Shoulders, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Asteroids on My Shoulders, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    30 x 40 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Asteroids on My Shoulders, 2024
    600.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Building Blocks, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Building Blocks, 2024
    Oil on canvas 

    25 x 25 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Building Blocks, 2024
    550.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Dreams Worlds, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Dreams Worlds, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    150 x 90 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Dreams Worlds, 2024
    1,900.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, I Was Never Just Bones, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    I Was Never Just Bones, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    150 x 90 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, I Was Never Just Bones, 2024
    1,900.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 1, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 1, 2024
    Sold
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 2, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 2, 2024
    Sold
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 3, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 3, 2024
    Sold
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 4, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire, Illuminating 4, 2024
    Sold
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Impression of an Impression, 2023
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Impression of an Impression, 2023
    Oil on canvas 

    10 x 15 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Impression of an Impression, 2023
    200.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Moments of Silence, Allowed to Breathe, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Moments of Silence, Allowed to Breathe, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    30 x 40 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Moments of Silence, Allowed to Breathe, 2024
    500.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Not My Favourite Anymore, 2023
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Not My Favourite Anymore, 2023
    Oil on Canvas
    35.5 x 45.5 cm
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Odyssey Tunnel, 2023
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Odyssey Tunnel, 2023
    Oil on canvas 

    12.5 x 12.5 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Odyssey Tunnel, 2023
    200.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Once I Lived Inside A Crystal, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Once I Lived Inside A Crystal, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    30 x 40 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Once I Lived Inside A Crystal, 2024
    600.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Raised by Druid's, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Raised by Druid's, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    30 x 40 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Raised by Druid's, 2024
    600.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, They Shield Us From the Wondering, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    They Shield Us From the Wondering, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    30 x 40 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, They Shield Us From the Wondering, 2024
    500.00
  • Aoibhin Maguire, Wet Palette, 2024
    Aoibhin Maguire
    Wet Palette, 2024
    Acrylic and oil on canvas
    30 x 40 cm
    Aoibhin Maguire, Wet Palette, 2024
    600.00
OVERVIEW
Aoibhin Maguire, born in 1997, is a painter from Belfast, Northern Ireland, living and working in London. She obtained her BA in Fine Art from Lancaster University and graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Painting. Maguire has exhibited in group exhibitions across the UK, Ireland, and internationally, including The Lido Stores, Barbican Arts Group Trust, Art on a Postcard, Irving Gallery, Completedworks, The Function Suite, The Tub, Hackney and Rowe Galleries. She had her first solo show at Pollen Gallery and Studios, Belfast in 2023. Recently, Maguire was a guest speaker with Artvocacy, collaborating with We Are Cognito on 'Leveraging Creative Arts for World Peace, Opportunities, and Youth Transformation.'

Maguire’s painting practice explores the overlap between the actual and fictitious in our everyday lives. Mixing vivid imagination with personal tales, she creates a visual dialogue that transcends temporal confines, drawing inspiration from memory, nostalgia, emotion, Celtic tradition and the nuanced narrative of growing up in Belfast. Through layers of bright colour, she converges commonplace worries into worlds that embrace the disorder of existence; a perpetual oscillation between emotional extremes, where fear and desperation run parallel to hope and love.

Whilst in a state of reverie, she creates mind-scapes; emotional landscapes of the past, present and future. Recurrent motifs and surrealist symbolism act as portals, transporting viewers into a realm where the tangible and the fantastical coalesce in chaos. Nostalgia, an undercurrent in the work, sparks collective memories, fostering contemplation on the complexities of identity. Whilst painting, she thinks about the rhythm of the women's monthly cycle, allowing its natural cadence to inspire her working pattern.

Drawing on a multitude of art historical, literary, poetic, and personal references, Maguire’s work abstractly reflects on the confusion surrounding Irish/Northern Irish identity, as she intertwines mythology with personal recollections. Her paintings are a testament to the tactile and visceral nature of paint, with vibrant colours and textures acting as emotional conduits, as she layers and scrapes away paint, mirroring the constant ebb and flow of the human experience.
BIO

Born 1997 in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Lives & works in London, UK

 

EDUCATION

2022 Royal College of Art, MA Painting
2019 Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, BA (Hons) Fine Art, FIRST CLASS HONOURS
2018 Rowe Arts, University of North Carolina, Charlotte (Exchange Program)
 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023  This Earth Is Alien To Me, Pollen Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024  Art on a Postcard, International Women’s Day Exhibition, 99-103 Long Acre, London, UK

          A Room of One’s Own, Irving Gallery, Oxford, UK

          Completedwork presents Aoibhin Maguire (Collaboration), Completed Works, London, UK

          Fierce Scandal, Lido Stores, Margate, UK

2023  Christmas Exhibition, Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London, UK

          Echoes of Belonging, Daa Art, London, UK

          The Lido Open, The Lido Stores, Margate, UK

          Seventeen, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, Marylebone, London, UK It’ll Be

          Alright, The Alchemy Experiment, Glasgow, UK

          Inaugural, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, Marylebone, London, UK

2022  Barbican Arts Group Trust, Selected for Open Call, BAGT, London, UK

          Towards A New Intellectual Cosmos: A Reflection on Contemporary Forms Of

Expression, Daa Art, London, UK

          Togetherness, Winter Exhibition, D31 Art Gallery, Doncaster, UK

          Pull over and take a cig, Espacio Gallery, London, UK
          Come one, Come all, The Function Suite, London, UK
          Rupture Alumni Online Retrospective and physical exhibition at Hampton Wick Jubilee Event, RuptureXIBIT, London, UK
          What Is Becoming Us, RuptureXIBIT, London, UK
          RCA 22 Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2021  Work In Progress, Royal College of Art, London, UK

         Coping, in Colour, RuptureXIBIT, London, UK 

2020  Life on Venus, The Tub, Hackney, London, UK

          Feast: Holiday, Now, online ‘e-zine’ exhibition made by first year painting students at the RCA, UK 

           Life on Venus, The Tub, Hackney, London, UK

2019  H(U)MAN, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK
          Beyond the Canvas, The Story, Lancaster, UK
          Miscellaneous Cartographies, Bowland Drawing Space, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

          Coordinate, LICA Degree Show, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

2018  Aoibhin Maguire and Myrthe Biesheuvel, Baku Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA (DUO SHOW)
          Annual Juried Exhibition, Rowe Galleries, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
          Local International at Spirit Square Arts Centre, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA (DUO SHOW)
          Resist, C3 Lab, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
          18-25, The Herbarium, Lancaster, UK
          Global Experiences, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

          Presented Artist of the Month, Charlotte Art League, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

2017  Mineral Spirits, Rowe Galleries, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

          Coalesced, Theatre Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

 

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES

2020-22 Sidney Perry Foundation, MA Sponsorship
2020-21 The Chizel Educational Trust, MA Sponsorship
2020 Col Arts Bursary Finalist

 

PUBLICATIONS

2024  Celebrating Creativity: Aoibhin Maguire’s collaboration with Completedworks marks four decades of London Fashion Week, Interview with Krizone
2023  Auc Art, In The Studio with Aoibhin Maguire
2023  It'll be Alright, Publication
2022  Daa Art, Interview
2022  Ghost Show, Publication
2022  Megazine Summer Edition, Publication
2021  EMERGING: A Room Full of Art, Article, Sunday World
2021  I think since Covid people are much more appreciative of art, Interview/Article, Sunday Life and Northern Ireland World

INTERVIEW
Tell us about yourself. What is your background and where did you grow up? How have your life experiences shaped your work?
I am Aoibhin Maguire, an artist born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I moved to England aged 18 to study art at Lancaster University, before making the decision to save up and move to London to do my MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art. I loved many different subjects at school such as sociology, geography and religious studies but art was always my favourite. I spent a lot of time doing various arts as a child, including Irish Dancing, playing the fiddle and attending different arts and crafts groups. From a young age I've kept sketchbooks/scrapbooks for drawings, photos and poems. I love to look back on these anytime I visit home.
 
Why did you become an artist and what has been your journey up to this point?
Making the decision to become an artist was not a hard one for me to make. Although it is a very difficult path, it is what I've always wanted to do. I do think that since I didn't grow up in London, and choose to do my undergrad in a more rural area due to London living costs, I had to learn a lot, and fast, when moving to London. I really had no idea how the whole art ecosystem works here, and honestly I'm still learning each day. I love learning new things. I'm happiest when I have a full day of no other work, no emails, just a full day of painting for 12 hours if I want. I want to be able to always give myself enough time to do what I love and this is something I'm currently aiming for. I have a lot of ideas and I'm always thinking a mile a minute and I feel it is important to put this on canvas. It makes me happy to hear when other people can relate to my work in some way.
 
What is an average day in your studio like and what is your routine?
I go to the studio as much as I can and. I try to get my admin done in the mornings, and then switch off and paint. It is important to me that I put my phone on do not disturb and remove myself from the outside world. While painting I listen to podcasts and music. Some of my favourite ones to listen to are The White Pube, Talk Art and The Great Women Artists and when I really need to concentrate I'll paint in silence. I am a very messy painter, I adore the physicality of paint. I use brushes, palette knives, clothes, random tools and my fingers. Anytime I have a thought about a painting or an idea for a title I scribble this down on a post-it note and put it on my studio wall. 
 
What is your creative process?
Messy and physical - I love to be covered in paint.  I work in layers, sometimes drawing first. I then go in with inks and acrylics, often followed by oil on top. I spend a lot of time on trains and I make sketches and writings while travelling. I incorporate text in my work quite a bit, often painting over parts of this. Recently, I am becoming more confident with what text I show. Most things I want to get across are best through paint, however certain more tongue in cheek things work really well with text. I normally paint for quite long stretches of time, working on multiple paintings at once.
 
How do you choose a medium for your work? Do you prepare and plan or do you improvise and experiment?
Both! I spend a lot of time researching colour and materiality, trying different pigments and techniques. I have recently begun to work with oil paint again. However I am also really interested in ideas of chance. This started when I first moved to England to study art and could not afford many of the materials recommended to me. I came up with my own formulas to replicate these mediums as best as I could and also became interested in combining what is considered tacky with what is considered classy. I love learning about all the weird and wonderful techniques other artists use.
 
Are your works conveying a message? Is there a narrative or a story to your work?
I view my painting process as worldbuilding, creating a universe inspired by reality but also my vivid imagination. The beauty of a particular situation is that everyone's realities and how they interpret it will be different. I  enjoy when people relate to my work, and see certain emotions in it, even if they see something completely different than I would have thought. What some people find anxiety inducing might make other people feel happy. I paint ideas of memory, home and nostalgia and you can find landmarks throughout my work of local shops back in Belfast and street names. Munch really inspires me, somehow I feel like I can somewhat relate to him on a more personal level. I would have loved to have met him.
 
Who and what are some of your greatest influences in both your life and as an artist?
In terms of artists I love Munch and Emin for the way they work through thoughts on canvas and in terms of materiality I am inspired by Katherine Bernhardt, Andi Fischer and Rose Wylie. I also like to read and go to smaller exhibitions, being inspired by the work of other emerging artists and having conversations with them. I attend multiple shows a week and make it a priority to give myself time for this. I am inspired by daily life and the humour in it, and l am always making notes on my phone as I go about my day and see or hear something which I would like to work into a painting.
 
Do you consider your work of art a creation or a discovery?
Both. I like to make mistakes on the canvas and then work through these, scraping back and removing paint, adding more marks on top of this. I often turn my paintings around for a few weeks when they are almost finished and then return to make my final marks. It is important I give myself space from my work. I'm not afraid of failure on the canvas as this is a key part of the process. Often the bits of a painting where you can see the frustration are very interesting.
 
VIDEO
EXHIBITIONS
SERIES
Enquire

Send me more information on Aoibhin Maguire

Please fill in the fields marked with an asterisk
Receive newsletters *
Terms and conditions

* denotes required fields

In order to respond to your enquiry, we will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.