My practice engages with themes around memory and displacement and the experience of shifting sequences of lived time and places. I use loosely connected images to create fragmentary worlds that are often concerned with boundaries and an ordering of forms within and across urban and rural thresholds. I’m interested in the matter of paint in and of itself, how it communicates and works to create mute spaces of pause and potential, whilst pursuing a feeling of ambiguity where moments of familiarity are charged with uncertainty. The paintings and drawings suppose more than explain becoming speculative places of transition in a negotiation between the materials and questions of reality and fiction.
Born in London, Fionna Murray studied at Chelsea College of Art (UAL), gaining a BA Honours in Painting. She moved to Ireland and studied for an MFA at the University of Ulster, Belfast in 1997. Her academic career as a lecturer in Painting has spanned 25 years between Galway ATU and Limerick TUS. She has exhibited nationally and internationally with work being represented in public and private collections in Ireland and abroad, including: The OPW State Collection; The Centre Cultural Irlandais; The University of Galway; The University of the Arts, London; Ballinglen Arts Foundation. Fionna lives and works in Galway and is a member of Artspace Studios.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 Fionna Murray, The Dock, Carrick on Shannon, Leitrim
2019 Metropolitan Pastoral, The Hyde Bridge Gallery, Sligo
2016 Blow Up and Other Stories, Emma Hill Arts, Eagle Gallery, London.
2010 Daily Truths, Duende Studios, Rotterdam
2009 Wildlife, Metis-NL, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2008 Night Wind, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
2007 A Real Corner of the World, The Dock, Carrick on Shannon
2001 Fionna Murray, The Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
2000 Fionna Murray, The Galway Arts Centre, Galway
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Bow, The City Gallery, Limerick
Hunt Museum Open, Limerick
Supermarket, Stockholm, Sweden
Ties That Bind, 126 Gallery, Galway
2024 Borders, Rua Red Gallery, Dublin
Go Under The Ivy, Away From The Party, 126 Gallery, Galway
2023 Connections, Boyle Visual Arts Festival, Boyle, Roscommon
2022 Beep Biennial, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales
RHA Summer Show, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2019 Night Walking, Emma Hill Arts, The Eagle Gallery, London
Four, Wilson Stephens & Jones, London
Cairde Visual, Model Arts Centre, Sligo
Summer Exhibition, Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon
2018 A Sense of Place, Project Gallery, Arundel, UK
2017 Cairde Visual, The Model Arts Centre, Sligo
A Promised Land, St Anne's Galleries, Lewes, Sussex, UK
2016 New Century Retro, Claremorris Open, Claremorris, Mayo
2014 Some of my Colours, Emma Hill Arts, Eagle Gallery, London
2013 RHA Summer Show, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
Panel Paintings, Emma Hill Arts, The Eagle Gallery, London
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Exhibition, Kings Place, London
2009 Image, Surface, Event, Standpoint Gallery, London
2008 By Invitation, Paul Kane Gallery, Dublin
2006 126 Presents, Galway Arts Centre, Galway
2005 Remote Access, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin
2002 Art Futures, Contemporary Art Fair, London
2001 Focus on Drawing, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
2000 Art 2000, Contemporary Art Fair, London
Qualifications
1995 BA Honours Fine Art Painting, Chelsea College of Art ( UAL)
1997 Master of Fine Art, University of Ulster, Belfast
Awards
2023 Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award
2013 Painting Prize, Claremorris Open, selected by Andrew Wilson
2010 First Prize, Claremorris Open, selected by Lisa Le Feuvre
Arts Council Travel and Training Award
Residencies
2010 Duende Studios, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2002 Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
2001 Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Co Mayo
Academic
1999 - 2000 Lecturer BA Fine Art Painting, Limerick IT ( TUS )
2000 - 2024 Lecturer BA Contemporary Art Galway ATU
