Colin Davidson

Colin Davidson is a contemporary artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. He graduated from the University of Ulster in 1991 with a First Class Honours Degree in Design and founded his own successful design company before deciding, at the turn of the millennium, to become a full-time artist. Since then, his works have been exhibited extensively worldwide.

Davidson’s subjects have developed from the urban cityscape, through sophisticated multi-layered paintings of city window reflections, to a current focus on grand scale portraits which have won widespread recognition and many international awards.

As well as numerous commissions, Davidson's portrait sitters have included Brian Friel, Michael Longley, Simon Callow, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Duke Special, Ciaran Hinds, Paul Brady, Adrian Dunbar, Barry Douglas, Gary Lightbody, Marketa Irglova, Glen Hansard, Lisa Hannigan, Mark Knopfler and Bronagh Gallagher - prominent figures who have each, in their own way, shaped life and art over three decades. His painting of Seamus Heaney was the last portrait for which Heaney sat.

Davidson's work is in public and corporate collections across Ireland and beyond including the Arts Council for Northern Ireland, the BBC, the National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland (Limerick), Queen's University Belfast, the Ulster Museum (Belfast), Standard Life (London), the National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin), the Standard Chartered Bank of Asia and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Washington DC).

A selection of Davidson's portraits are currently on display at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, where he personally presented his work to HM The Queen and the President of Ireland during the Royal Visit to Northern Ireland in 2012.

An Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy since 2006, Davidson has won the Royal Ulster Academy Gold Medal three times and is currently the President of the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts.

Colin Davidson ARUA

1968 Born Belfast
1980-87 Educated Methodist College, Belfast
1987-91 Art & Design Faculty, University of Ulster, Belfast
First Class Honours Degree
2003 Associate Royal Ulster Academy

Awards

1994 Communication Arts Award, California
1994 ICAD Craft Award, Dublin
1994 Association of Illustrators, London
1994 Winsor & Newton Gold Award, London
1994 Creative Review Award, London
1997 RUA Silver Medal, Belfast
2001 RUA Conor Prize, Belfast
2002 RUA Silver Medal, Belfast

Selected Exhibitions

1991-date Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast
1993 One man show, BBC, Belfast
1997 One man show, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
Four man show, Elaine Somers Gallery, Holywood
1998 Group show, Gallery Revel, New York
One man show, Straid Gallery, Co Antrim
Group show, The Discerning Eye, London
1999 One man show, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
Group show, Albemarle Gallery, London
One man show, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
2000 Group show, ArtExpo, New York
Group show, Thompson's Gallery, London
Group show, Gallery Revel, New York
Group show, Basil Blackshaw and Friends', Boyle
Group show, Lavit Gallery, Cork
Group show, Kellys Resort Hotel, Rosslare
Group show, James Gallery, Bangor
2001 One man show, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
Group show, Kellys Resort Hotel, Rosslare
One man show, Gallery Revel, New York
2002 One man show, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
Group show, Boyle Arts Festival, Boyle
Group show, Kellys Resort Hotel, Rosslare
Group show, Cavehill Gallery, Belfast
2003 Group show, Albemarle Gallery, London
One man show, Solomon Gallery, Dublin
Memorial Exhibition, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
Group show, Boyle Arts Festival, Boyle
Group show, Kellys Resort Hotel, Rosslare
Group show, Cavehill Gallery, Belfast
2004 One man show, Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin

Selected Commissions

1990 Coal Advisory Service
1992 Shell UK
1992 Green Gate 48-sheet campaign
1993 Lyric Players Theatre (set of ten posters)
1993 Queen's University prospectus cover
1993 Bushmills Book of Irish Pubs, Appletree Press
1995 Book of Irish Quotations, Appletree Press
1995-2000 Open Fairways
1995-96 Cobra Golf USA (portraits of Greg Norman,
Hale Irwin, Ben Crenshaw & Seve Ballesteros)
1996 Portrait Tom Caldwell
1997 Lisburn Borough Council
1998 NITB
1999 Portrait Basil Blackshaw
2000 Portraits Hugh & Ann Logue
2003 Presentation to Senator George Mitchell

Collections

AIB Collection
Anglo Irish Bank
BBC
Boyle Civic Collection
Gabriel Byrne
Carat (Ireland)
Cobra Golf, USA
DOENI
First Trust Bank
Hastings Hotels
Hilton Hotels
Marlfield House Hotel, Wexford
National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland, Limerick
National Treasury Management Agency, Dublin
Northern Ireland Electricity
Parliament Buildings Stormont
Royal Victoria Hospital
Senator George Mitchell
Standard Life UK
Ulster Bank Group
Wexford County Council
... and private collections worldwide.