Irish
b. 1956, Donegal, Ireland

Andrew Folan is an Irish Postwar & Contemporary artist. Folan studied Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and Printmaking at the Slade School of Fine Art, London and Fine Art at the University of Minnesota. He works as a printmaker and sculptor, exploring the crossover between the two disciplines and drawing inspiration from photographic imagery. Folan has received numerous awards. He currently lectures in Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design and is a director of the Black Church Print Studio.

Andrew Folan belongs to an important generation of artists, born in the mid-fifties, who began to eschew the nationalist self-absorption that was the preoccuption of many of their predecessors.

Folan’s practice is conceptual overall, but he works though print-making, sculpture and photography as well as digital imaging. Folan participated in the Digital Surface at Tate Britain in 2003, has received numerous awards and commisions and is a member of the RHA.

His solo exhibitions include ‘Stray Light’ at the Ashford Gallery, RHA, Dublin (2002) and Project Arts Centre, Dublin (1992). His solo exhibition of printed sculptures ‘Arterial Ink’ toured to a number of venues in Ireland as well as London, Paris and Stockholm (1991 – 2001). He participated in group exhibitions ‘Dead Bodies’ at the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris (2003) and the ‘Digital Surface’ presented at Tate Britain (2003), as well as exhibiting at RHA, Oireachtas and Irish Exhibition of Living Art on numerous occasions. Folan was commissioned by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon to produce work for the touring school show ‘Altered States’ (1995).

His work is the collections of The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon; The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA); The Central Bank of Ireland and Trinity College, Dublin; Graphic Studio Gallery.

andrewfolan.com