The President and Members of the Academy have, with great sadness, learnt of the death of Richard Gorman RHA, 1946 - 2026.
A gifted colourist, Richard Gorman RHA was best known for his paintings and works on paper exploring the dynamic interplay between geometric forms. Infused with a sense of vitality, Gorman’s offbeat shapes appear mobile – as if floating past, wiggling around or colliding with one another, like dancers in motion. Often graced with a subtly playful or humorous undertone, their generosity of spirit is enhanced by a striking colour palette, varying from meditative blues to piquant acid tones. Gorman’s approach to painting was been guided by the places he visited and was influenced by: Milan, where he lived on/off for many years, and Japan, home to the family-run paper factory he visited to produce his handmade kozo washi paper for over 30 years. His works on paper offer a delicacy and fragility in counterpoint to his more robust oils on canvas, but both strands of Gorman’s practice draw their power from the compositional tension between boldly simplified blocks of colour.
b.1946, Dublin, Ireland. Richard Gorman’s work has been exhibited at The Drawing Centre, New York; Berkeley Art Museum, California; Barbican Centre, London; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Mitaka City Gallery of Art and Ashikaga City Museum of Art in Japan; The MAC, Belfast; the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin. Recent solo exhibitions include Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2020); Chigasaki Museum, Japan (2019); Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland (2017); Castletown House, Co. Kildare, Ireland (2016). Recent group exhibitions include The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (2021). Gorman’s work is represented in the collections of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Josef and Anni Albers Foundation; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Japan; Centre of Contemporary Graphic Art, Fukishima, Japan and New York Public Library.
www. rip.ie/death-notice/richard-gorman
May he rest in peace.
