Brian Maguire’s painting practice is driven by the struggle against inequality and violence, and the pursuit of justice. Compelled towards the raw realities of human conflict, Maguire approaches painting foremost as an act of solidarity, rehumanising his subjects and recentring the narratives of the disenfranchised. Social engagement plays a central role, leading him to work closely and interactively with refugees, survivors of warzones, incarcerated peoples, and local newsrooms in locations including Sudan, Syria, São Paulo and Ciudad Juárez. This subject-led approach requires negotiating an exchange, establishing a method of working that attempts to “repay the debt” to its subjects. Maguire’s direct observation of conflict zones puts his practice adjacent to forms of war reporting or photojournalism, but while his artworks might begin as acts of bearing witness, his task in the studio is to transform his testimony into blisteringly powerful works of art. There is a resulting tension between the raw and visceral nature of Maguire’s subject matter and the seductive, illusory nature of painting itself. Rather than abandoning aestheticism, Maguire uses painterly skill, surface and texture to draw us into an uncomfortable relationship in which ethical vision functions as part of the poetic imagination, resituating art in the concrete social structures from which it is so often removed.
In 2018, Kerlin Gallery and Fergus McCaffrey published the Brian Maguire monograph, an expansive publication which presents over 30 years of work and features texts by Donald Kuspitt, Thomas McEvilley, Gavin Delahunty, and Ed Vulliamy.
Brian Maguire lives and works in Dublin and Paris.
Child Living From the Waste Food on the City Dump (São Paulo 2003)
2022
acrylic on canvas
290 x 460 cm / 114.2 x 181.1 in
Brian Maguire
Mexican necklace, 2016
acrylic on canvas
132 x 183 cm / 52 x 72 in
Collection of The Tia Collection, Santa Fe
Brian Maguire
Over Our Heads the Hollow Seas Closed Up, 2016
acrylic on linen
290 x 270 cm / 114.2 x 106.3 in
Collection of The Tia Collection, Santa Fe
Brian Maguire
Brenda Berenice Costillo Garcia, 2011
acrylic on canvas
71 x 55 cm / 28 x 21.7 in
Brian Maguire
Contemporary Ruin, 2010
acrylic on linen
210 x 146 cm / 82.7 x 57.5 in unframed
216 x 151.5 x 4.5 cm / 85 x 59.6 x 1.8 in framed
Brian Maguire
Contemporary Irish History, 1997
acrylic on canvas
180 x 142 cm / 70.9 x 55.9 in
Collection of Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK
Brian Maguire
Elizabeth, 2003
acrylic on canvas
183 x 135 cm / 72 x 53.1 in
Collection of Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
Brian Maguire
The Big House, 1990
acrylic on canvas
166 x 206 cm / 65.4 x 81.1 in
Collection of Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
Brian Maguire
In The Light Of Conscience, 2022
Missoula Art Museum, Montana, USA
Brian Maguire
War Changes Its Address and Other Border Stories, 2021
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, USA
Brian Maguire
Scenes of Absence, 2019
Rubin Center, Texas University, USA
Brian Maguire
Escenarios de ausencia (Scenes of Absence), 2019
Art Museum Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
Brian Maguire
War Changes Its Address: The Aleppo Paintings, 2018
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Brian Maguire
J’Accuse!, 2015
Void, Derry, Northern Ireland
Brian Maguire
The Quick and the Dead, 2009
The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Painter Brian Maguire offers a behind-the-scenes look at his studio and works in progress. Maguire's virtual exhibition "Without Borders" was featured in American University Museum's Summer 2020 programme.
Artist Brian Maguire talks to Marianne O'Kane Boal about what inspires him.
Brian Maguire talking about his work and inspiration at the opening reception of his show at Fergus McCaffrey, New York.
Brian Maguire, Blood Rising, 2013, Directed by Mark McLoughlin, Music by Gavin Friday, 83 minute HD Feature Documentary Film, 52 minute TV version / Families of femicide victims of Juarez, seek justice through the help of artist Brian Maguire.
Brian Maguire has two paintings included in Bodywork, an exhibition highlighting the crucial relationships between contemporary art practice and the body.
Brian Maguire was interviewed by John Burns for a full-page feature in The Irish Times.
Brian Maguire solo exhibition at Missoula Art Museum, Montana.
Brian Maguire and Isabel Nolan at Crawford Art Gallery, 'Odysseys', curated by Flicka Small and Michael Waldron.
'Remains', a major museum show of the 'Arizona' paintings and other recent works opens at Crawford Art Gallery, Cork. The exhibition is accompanied by a new publication.
