“I was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland; a city of words in a country of literature. Story-telling is at the core of the Irish psyche. Drawn to image making I initially attended a local art school but soon came into conflict with the school’s governance; we mutually agreed to part ways. This was a good time to hit the road so the following years were spent traveling and working seasonal jobs around Europe. A few years later and now based back in Dublin I took evening classes in the National College of Art and Design – life drawing and printmaking classes after work, picking up some film editing and camera skills along the way. In time the college hired me as their New Media Librarian tasked with digital imaging, film and copyright/copyleft issues. It was also around this time I began exhibiting my own artwork – oil paintings and etchings. This led to Master-Classes in the Royal Hibernian Academy and some extracurricular teaching in the School of Architecture in University College Dublin. Eventually I set up and ran an art gallery for five years or so, as a type of performative artwork, all the while painting and pixel pushing. The skills I picked-up over the years have converged to form my current body of work which embraces material and digital media.”
This website documents selected work from across those years.
Gilna’s work is held in various private and public collections including the Office of Public Works of the Irish Government, the Irish Film Institute Archive, the National Irish Visual Arts Library and Archive, the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Waterford Institute of Technology, and the Independent Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin, Ireland.
Solo Exhibitions
2020
‘Tokin Heads’ – Somyam’s Crypto Crypt, Somnium Space, Metaverse
2019
‘The Windward Mark’ – National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Dublin, IRL
2015
‘Forms of Complicity’ – Steambox Gallery, Independent Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin, IRL
2010
‘The Improbable Portrait’ – SolArt Gallery, Dublin, IRL
Group Exhibitions
2016
‘Ice Tuxedo’ – Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
2015
‘Strangers; Our Selves’ – Steambox Gallery, Independent Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin, IRL
‘Quantum Leap’ – Foundation15 in association with the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Offaly, IRL
‘Chromatic’ – Linus Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
‘HUE’ – Hive Emerging, Waterford, IRL
‘POP Living’ – Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
2014
‘Autumn & the Perpetual Machine’ – Independent Museum of Contemporary Art, Dublin, IRL
2013
‘Hot One Hundred’ – Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
‘BIMPE VII’ – University of British Colombia, B.C., CAN
SNAP Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, CAN
2012
Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast, UK
‘BIMPE VII’ – Federation Gallery, Vancouver B.C., CAN
Studio 10, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK
The Poly Arts Centre, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK
2011
‘NSA Print’ – The Exchange Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall, UK
‘Open Portrait’ – Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham, UK
Etching and Intaglio Exhibition, Belfast Print Workshop, Belfast, UK
Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, IRL
Annual Exhibition, Royal Ulster Academy, Belfast, UK
Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
Annual Open, Clinton Centre Gallery, Fermanagh, UK
2010
Annual Exhibition, CEAD, National College of Art and Design, Dublin, IRL
‘Imagine’ – Waterford Arts Festival, various venues, Waterford, IRL
A4 Print, Open Space Galleries, Penryn, Cornwall, UK