2025 has been quiet so far in terms of shows, which is partly why it's been a long time since my last email. But I've had a bit of time to get my head down in the studio and do a fair bit of painting. I'll share a few of these below, as well other stuff I've been up to, and some exhibition recommendations. As usual, feel free to forward to art-interested friends, and if you haven't already, subcribe here to get these occasional posts in an email.
Recent Paintings
The work above is based on drawings of the incredible Special Quintet at Jazz Club Mr. Kenny's in Nagoya, Japan. I was out there visiting family and did quite a bit of drawing in Japan's excellent jazz clubs, but it's Mr. Kenny's I remember most fondly due to the amazing skill and warmth of their Special Quintet. I've never seen anyone enjoy their job as much as bassist Benisuke Sakai, it was a great encouragement to try and do what you love.
Hanging out with these heroes after the gig, and a sketchbook page (I'll get the whole book scanned in at some point and post here).
You need that encouragement sometimes to spur you on through the many applications and submissions (the majority of which will be unsuccessful), you go through to try and get your work out there. A few more paintings from January and February are below.
From left: The Wren Boys at Wendy's, oil on linen, 70x50cm; Thriller, oil on linen, 108x97cm; A wonderful accident of consensus and mutual understanding, oil on board, 35x45 cm. © Niall MacCrann 2025
Expanded Print Residency at Graphic Studio Dublin
I recently finished my time on the Expanded Print Residency at the wonderful Graphic Studio Dublin. Contained in a non-descript warehouse building in a non-descript courtyard on the north edge of central Dublin, it's a really cool facility where I've spent, in total, around a month over the past year. I particularly love the top-floor room that is filled with light from a load of skylights, even on a grey February day, as well as 5 or 6 etching presses. With guidance from master printmakers Robert Russel and Niamh Flanagan, I worked to expand and broaden my skills in intaglio printmaking, experimenting with carborundum and spit-bite and sugar-lift aquatint. The "expanded print" part of my project was creating a moving-image piece, which relates thematically to a short story by George Saunders called "Love Letter". The frames for the movie were generated from some of the many prints I made at Graphic Studio Dublin.
I'm currently writing up the project, and I'll share the video and write-up with you very soon (which means you'll get another email much sooner than the usual several month spacing of these posts...).
But for now, here is one of the etchings I made there
Life Drawing
I've got my act together to bring oil painting stuff to life drawing again, and it is lovely to get back to drawing with thinned, loose oil paint. Below are a few from January and February. There's plenty of this sort of work in my limited edition book 50 Life Drawings, of which there are still copies available. We've raised a few hundred quid for charities tackling gender-based violence, and hopefully we'll get a few hundred more - get your order in here or email me.
Exhibitions to see
I've not got to many shows this year yet ... but the Picasso printmaking exhibition at the British Museum is excellent. He was an obsessive experimenter and that really shows in his printmaking where he he combined that obsessiveness with the confidence/arrogance to push the medium in strange and original directions. The drawing in his etchings is extremely free, often absurd, and occasionally utterly brilliant. It's on until the end of March.
In Dublin meanwhile is another sort of big manly show - "La Grande Illusion" by Brian Maguire, at the beautiful Hugh Lane Gallery. It's a stylish selection of huge canvases depicitng scenes of war, death, environmental collapse and above all injustice. Maguire is painter as witness and the scale and violence of the paintings shouts his message. The show is free and runs until 18th May.
Finally, a couple of things coming up in Cambridge - Fen Ditton Gallery are doing a show next weekend. It's a fantastic independent gallery, and this is a chance to see them in central Cambridge see https://www.fendittongallery.com/exhibitions/spring-exhibition-aylestone-road. Then, the weekend after there's a show at Cambridge Artworks I'll try and go to, featuring the excellent Clio Lloyd Jacob. I'm not familiar with the other artists in the show, so looking forward to checking them out. Details here,
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