A major new exhibition celebrating 25 years of work by Banbridge-born artist Kevin McAleenan has opened at The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre in Armagh. Equal, described as the venue’s marquee showcase of the year, offers a rich, immersive journey through the artist’s evolving relationship with place, colour and form.
Bringing together works inspired by locations across Ireland and far beyond, the retrospective features scenes ranging from Dublin to Donegal, Carlingford to Cornwall, and San Francisco to St Ives.
Despite the geographical breadth, McAleenan’s unmistakable visual language remains constant: a series of vertical lines forming a flexible grid, allowing colour to “stretch, compress and breathe”. From a distance the paintings appear crisp and structured, yet up close they dissolve into expressive abstraction.
A newly unveiled large-scale painting of Armagh, On This Hill, takes pride of place within the exhibition. The striking piece offers a view from the steps of St Patrick’s Cathedral towards its sister Cathedral, believed to stand on the site of St Patrick’s first stone church.
To mark the exhibition and the dual anniversaries, visitors can enter a free draw to win a signed, limited-edition framed print of On This Hill, valued at more than £700.
McAleenan explained that capturing Armagh’s essence required more than depicting buildings or streets.
“I’ve been to Armagh a couple of times, and it’s a beautiful city with beautiful buildings,” he said. “But it wasn’t until later in the day that I saw something that gave a sense of place. It had to be something that, at first viewing, you go, ‘That is Armagh.’”
The exhibition also includes dynamic commissions, such as a bustling depiction of Belfast city centre created for The Dead Rabbit bar in the US, alongside more intimate works such as the warm interior of a Dublin pub. Each piece contributes to a broader celebration of the artist’s connection to landscape, memory and craft.
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Speaking of the commission for The Dead Rabbit, he said: “It was interesting to go to Belfast and actually capture the city - to walk down Royal Avenue and get so many shots of it, and what would tell the story of that street, and the busyness of characters walking right, left, and following some characters into it and watching other characters watching out of the canvas at you.
“It was interesting composing that against the backdrop of the City Hall. For me growing up in Banbridge and going to Belfast, your usual line was ‘meet me at the City Hall’, if you’re lost.
McAleenan was approached by Christine Donnelly of The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre to develop the retrospective.
“She had liked my work for a number of years and followed it,” he said. “Standing among your own work is a bit strange. You can look back on the computer and see what you’ve done, but seeing it all together is something else.”
I’m interested in the Irishness of the whole thing — the landscape and where I’m from
— Kevin McAleenan
The exhibition’s title, Equal, reflects the structure and philosophy behind his work.
“My paintings are realistic to an extent — you can see what you’re looking at,” McAleenan explained. “But the closer you go, the more abstract they become. I paint within a ruler’s length of the canvas, so I’m painting in the abstract. It’s only when I stand back that I see the realism.”
Colour, he says, is the driving force behind his compositions.
“I’m interested in the Irishness of the whole thing — the landscape and where I’m from. But the response to it is colour relationships: the colour of a tin roof next to a gable, next to a tree, next to burnt-out grass. I concentrate on those relationships and then the painting arrives from that.”
McAleenan, who spent 15 years as a freelance illustrator before establishing himself as a full-time artist, acknowledges that finding his unique style took time.
“You can see in the exhibition that it took a while, and there were a couple of U-turns before I settled into the style I paint in now. I’m anchored to that.”
The retrospective features between 25 and 30 pieces, some of which are available for sale. McAleenan is currently preparing for a major exhibition in Dublin in April, requiring around 20 new works.
As Equal continues to draw audiences, the artist’s exploration of colour, structure and Irish identity stands as a testament to his place among Northern Ireland’s most distinctive contemporary artistic voices.
Equal runs at The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre, Armagh, until January 10.