ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ciaran Gallagher was born in 1984 in Belfast Northern Ireland.
He attended the University of Ulster in Belfast from 2008-2011 and gained his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Fine Art Painting. During this time he won the Irish News Award for a work depicting the theme of 'Ireland Today'. And had his final year show purchased by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for their private collection.
The year after he went on to study Animation at Masters Level where he discovered a love for anatomy, narrative development and storytelling, which he has incorporated into his painting and drawing practice.
In 2021 he won the silver award at the annual RUA exhibition at the Ulster Museum with his Painting "Mateuzs" and subsequently was invited to become a member of the RUA in 2022, where he facilitates workshops, teaching Anatomy for life drawing.
In 2022 he Painted a series of murals satarizing the election race between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss and was featured internationally in Newspapers and Television programmes around the Globe. Including BBC News at 10, The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, The Financial Times, New Zealand Herold and The Indian Express.
Localy the story was also featured on the front Cover of both the Belfast Telegraph and The Newsletter.
In 2023 he won the Gold Award at the Annual Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition with his painting "The Boxer".
In 2025 he opened his first major exhibition "Half Bap Workers" in The Sea Holly Gallery in Belfast.
The King and Queen of England visited and opened the exibition during their visit to Northern Ireland.
In 2026 Ciaran's work once again recieved national media attention with his mural celebrating
local traditional musicians in the lead up to the All Ireland Fleabh Cheoil's visit
to Belfast City and was featured in the RTE film promoting the event in the Republic of Ireland.
Work Timeline
2026
I painted a large mural celebrating local traditional musicians in the lead up to the All Ireland
Fleabh Cheoil's visit to Belfast City and was featured in the RTE film promoting the event
in the Republic of Ireland.
2025
I opened my first solo exhibition "Half Bap Workers" in The Sea Holly Gallery in Belfast.
The King and Queen of England visited and opened the exibition during their visit to Northern Ireland.
2023
I won the Gold Award at the Annual Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition with his painting "The Boxer".
https://www.ciarangallagherart.co.uk/the-boxer
2022
I won the silver award at the annual RUA exhibition at the Ulster Museum with my Painting "Mateuzs" and subsequently was invited to become a member of the RUA in 2022, where he facilitates workshops, teaching Anatomy for life drawing.
https://www.ciarangallagherart.co.uk/last-train-copy
2020
I completed a large scale piece of public art entitled ‘A Rake’s Progress’ based on William Hogarth’s series of etchings from the 1700s.
The piece will be installed permanently in the courtyard of The Harp Bar in Belfast.
https://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/A-Rakes-Progress
2019
I produced a comic book style mural for the Orpheus Club in Belfast, depicting the story of Orpheus from Greek mythology in a semi realistic cartoon style. The story plays out like a comic strip along the walls and consists of 32 individual painted scenes.
https://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/Orpheus
2018
I was commissioned by the Duke of York Pub in Belfast to Produce a large public mural depicting the timeline of the Titanic tragedy. The Titanic having been built in Belfast this piece has significance to the local area.
https://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/Titanic
2013
I was commissioned by the Harp Bar on Hill Street to create a series of traditional pub glass pieces for the opening of the new bar I was also commissioned to create a tile mosaic on the floor in the centre of the bar both of these disciplines were new to me and involved some research. I had to work in conjunction with builders, designers and architects and manage a small team to deliver the results. The largest of the glass pieces was designed to let people know that the sight of the Harp Bar was once Bushmills Head offices.
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/Bushmills-reverse-painting-glass-Verre-eglomise-piece
The Mosaic on the floor of the bar was designed by myself and the owner.
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/The-Harp-Bar-Floor-Mosaic
Some more examples of the Glass pieces for the Harp Bar
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/The-Harp-Bar-Gold-Leaf-Mirrors
2012
Myself and another artist Jordan Henderson won funding from the European Union to complete a short film promoting The importance of language learning and communication challenges between cultures. Over the project we dealt with several challenges including learning how to work as a team on a very intense project were we were always out of our comfort zones, having to learn new complicated software, we also commissioned a third person to create the soundtrack. During that project we attended screen-writing workshops in Amsterdam and after 3months of production we showed the film at The Prix Europa film festival 2012 in Berlin. “The Tall And Short of it”
On the strength of that work I got involved in the production of one of Belfast’s biggest public outdoor Arts events of 2012, “The Land of Giants”. In this Project I was in a team of 8 people who created the animated sections of the live show that were to be projected onto the side of the newly built Titanic Building.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyQVrnXBxpQ
In September of 2012 I was commissioned to create several outdoor Artworks for the Duke of York Bar in Belfast. The largest of these pieces was a 3-dimensional piece that incorporated sculptural elements with painted mural like imagery. Thematically the piece satirizes Belfast’s notorious past and present.
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/Duke-of-York-3D-Mural-Belfast-Theme
In the same courtyard as the satirical Belfast Mural I researched some of the old industries of Belfast and created a mural representing the 5 main ones, Ropeworks, Whisky, Shipbuilding, Linen and Tobacco.
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/5-industries
2011
I completed my degree and had my final year showpiece, an animated video piece purchased by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. “Belfast Sketchbook”
2010
The following year I was invited to enter a piece in another RUA charity event where I entered my Painting “John the Book”
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/John-The-Book
2009
I then took three years to complete the Fine Art Degree course in the University of Ulster York Street specialising in Painting. While studying I entered a large painting in the annual Royal Ulster Academy show and won the Irish news award for best depicting the theme Ireland Today. The piece was called “Candahar Street”
http://www.coroflot.com/ciarangallagher/Candahar-Street
2006\2008
Worked as a Junior Artist at Radical Arts Mural Company, Belfast. Here I was involved with several other artists who delivered countless painted public murals funded by various community organisations. Most of these were painted on walls or boards in west and north Belfast Interface areas. Also we worked on Set Design for Film Production.
Education
University of Ulster Degree in Fine Art ‘Painting’ 2008\2011 Awarded 2.1