Born in 1981, Ciaran always had a love for art and design. As a child he used art as a
way to pass the time. He instinctively loved to draw faces. The fact that no two were
the same always fascinated him. He enjoyed trying to capture someone’s likeness and
then showing to family members to see if they knew who it was. He tried to draw other
things, such as landscapes, bowls of fruit; animals etc but always found myself
resorting back to portraits.
At school he studied art at GCSE and A Level. From here he applied to college to study
graphic design. During these years his style changed from life like portraits to a
more bold graphic style. He enjoyed trying to capture the likeness but in a unique
style. He was inspired by the works of Patrick Nagel, Andy Warhol, Roy lichenstein
and more recently
Terry Bradley. However during this time he moved away from art and more towards design. He was so busy designing, logos, posters, flyers and websites that his art was forgotten.
On completion of a HND in college Ciaran decided to further his education and applied for a visual communication course in the Art College, Belfast. It was here he used his skills utilising software such as illustrator and Photoshop but again his focus was on design, rather than art.
Ciaran has spent the last 5 years as a “designer” but always missed the pure “art” side of things.
Ciaran made it his goal this year to get back into art. It took a lot of trial and error but he now feels he has finally established his own style which is strong, bright, vibrant, contemporary and Unique. Striving to capture, not only a likeness but a strong sense of emotion Ciaran hopes the viewer will ponder the character within the art.
Ciaran Monaghan Profile
