Frank Phelan

FRANK PHELAN

A Retrospective

Born in Dublin in 1932, Frank Phelan was raised in a house with little art. His education at the Christian Brothers School was harsh and in the end he was sent to Tipperary, to board at Rockwell College. Recognising his yearning to draw, Phelan studied at the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland School after which he found work as a draughtsman in a structural engineering firm.

In 1953, Phelan emigrated to Canada with his brother working variously as a draughtsman, a truck driver and – over one Christmas – a puppeteer in the toy department of a large store. His free time was spent sketching in art galleries before he enrolled on a summer course at the Doon School of Art in Kitchener, Ontario. After six years, Phelan returned briefly to Ireland before moving to London where he shared a basement flat with the Irish artist Frank Morris and found work as a stagehand, and later a set designer. A serendipitous encounter with the sculptor Bill Redgrave, in The Queen’s Elm (a London pub), led to Frank making his way down to Cornwall where Bill’s wife, Mary ‘Boots’ Redgrave, ran Trevaylor for Nancy Wynne-Jones. The house at Gulval near Penzance had been turned into studios for artists and writers, and Frank was offered an artist residency. It was here that

front cover

Tablet , 2010

Oil on canvas 101.5 × 76 cm

back cover

Sur la Plage , 2003

Oil on canvas 46 × 61 cm

he befriended the painter Tony O’Malley, along with a few of the St Ives artists: Bryan Wynter, Patrick Heron, Alan Lowndes and Conor Fallon (who later became a sculptor). For much of the 1960s, Phelan lived between Cornwall and London during which time the Scottish entrepreneur and artist Richard Demarco gave him several successful shows in Edinburgh.

Phelan’s paintings can be found in private collections in England, Ireland, France, the United States, as well as the State Collection of Ireland (OPW) and the Cork Institute of Technology & Arts.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

1966 Traverse Art Gallery, Edinburgh

1967 Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh (joint show with Justin Knowles)

2002 The Merriscourt Gallery, Chipping Norton Frank Phelan, Inside Out, Kings Road Gallery, London

2003 Walton Gallery, London

2004 Arthouse Gallery, Dublin Chelsea Arts Club, London

2005 Frank Phelan, Metáfora, Luz, Color, Museo Casa de los Tiros, Granada

2010 CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery, Cork (joint show with Donal Moloney)

2014 Frank Phelan, Messum’s, London

2017 Frank Phelan, Past to Present I, Cricket Fine Art, London

2020 Frank Phelan, Past to Present II, Cricket Fine Art, London

Frank Phelan in his studio, 2017

FRANK PHELAN CRICKET FINE ART

LONDON

requests the pleasure of your company at the PRIVATE VIEW of (1932-2023)

A Retrospective

at 2 Park Walk, London SW10 0AD

6 – 8pm Tuesday 9 th April

Exhibition dates: 10 th - 26 th April 2024

Cricket Fine Art represents the Artist’s Estate

Untitled (Blue/Green)

Oil on canvas

91.5 × 91.5 cm

Mazey , 2010

Oil on canvas 100 × 130 cm

Botallack , 2013

Oil and graphite on canvas 76 × 51 cm

Éclat , 2003

Oil on canvas 106.5 × 155 cm

Untitled (Red/Ochre)

Oil on canvas 76 × 91 cm

Venezia , 2012

Oil and charcoal on canvas 71 × 91.5 cm

Untitled Landscape II , 1983

Watercolour on paper 26 × 36 cm

Untitled Landscape III

Watercolour on paper 15 × 23 cm

Untitled Landscape I , 1983

Oil on canvas

112 × 87 cm

Granada I , 2006

Oil on canvas

56 × 137 cm

Oil on canvas 213.5 × 290 cm

Diptych , 1967

Untitled (Orange/Black)

Oil on canvas

91.5 × 91.5 cm

July Heat , 2014

Oil on canvas 76 × 76 cm

Untitled Collage Mixed media on paper

42 × 59.5 cm

Miami Ocean , 1994

Oil on canvas

29.5 × 24.5 cm

Untitled (Blue/Grey)

Mixed media on canvas 76 × 65.5 cm

Midday Oil on canvas 76 × 91 cm

Untitled (Rust/Yellow) , 2009 Oil on canvas 76 × 76 cm

Apollo’s Door

Mixed media on board

Kolophon II , 2014

Oil on canvas

70 × 90 cm

Midday, Grenada , 2006

Oil on canvas 66 × 56 cm

Nomadic Blue

Oil on canvas

50.5 × 119 cm