Colin Davidson has been announced as the winner of the RCSI Art Award 2022. The prize was awarded to the artist for his work entitled ‘Glen’. Now in its seventh year, the RCSI Art Award in association with the RHA Annual Exhibition and The Irish Times was established to recognise the connection between art and healing.
The artwork was selected from 570 works that are on display at the 192nd RHA Annual Exhibition 2022, Ireland’s largest and longest running exhibition of visual art.
The successful artist was awarded €5,000 and the RCSI silver medal and will be invited to submit a proposal for a new work for 118 St Stephen’s Green, the next phase of RCSI’s campus development in Dublin city centre.
Professor Cathal Kelly, RCSI Vice Chancellor, said: “The RCSI Art Award continues to go from strength to strength. With the winner of the RCSI Art Award, we recognise and celebrate the shared heritage of RCSI and the RHA and the long-standing association between art, medicine and well-being. I would like to congratulate Colin Davidson, a renowned artist and a most worthy recipient of this year’s award.”
Davidson's 'Glen' is a 3D portrait of Glen Hansard, an Irish songwriter, actor, vocalist and guitarist for the group The Frames.
Colin Davidson is a contemporary artist, living and working near Belfast, Northern Ireland. Since graduating from the University of Ulster, he has structured his practice in themes, and since 2010 his focus has been on painting grand scale portraits, which have won widespread recognition and many international awards.
All works of art, in any medium, selected for the 192nd RHA Annual Exhibition were considered for the RCSI Art Award. The other shortlisted artists were Taffina Flood, Andrea Kavanagh, Laurence O'Toole and John Rainey.
Photographs Alan Betson
