Big return to Waterford for award-winning artist Robert Jackson at Gallery of Art

The Waterford Gallery of Art is thrilled to announce that they will be hosting a new solo exhibition of recent paintings by Robert Jackson. 

Launching at 6pm on Thursday, February 26, ‘as below, so above’ will run until June 20.

Mr Jackson is a painter and printmaker based in Fife, Scotland but spent his early years in Waterford where he attended the Newton School. Following this, the artist progressed onto the Central Technical Institute in Tipperary before studying Fine Art Printmaking at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. He then received his MFA from Duncan Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. 

Mr Jackson’s artwork is held in both public and private collections worldwide, including Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons and Waterford’s Healing Arts Trust as well as in the Waterford Gallery of Art, making this his second exhibition there. 

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The painter has won numerous commissions and awards, previously exhibiting his work at the AIB National Gallery of Ireland Portrait Prize, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Royal Society of Miniature Painters and most recently at Cahir Arts.

Returning to the Gallery of Art, this exhibition brings together a selection of Jackson’s many distinct bodies of work which he has developed over the past 15 years. These include miniature portraiture and skyscapes (Tiny Skies), fragmented dream infused landscapes (Interruption Paintings), meticulous lace fabric studies (Secret and Solitary Vice) and an incredibly ambitious new large scale work developed specifically for this exhibition: ‘Your soul is a chosen landscape.’

Speaking ahead of the upcoming launch, Mr Jackson said, “I’m really looking forward to showing this body of work at the Waterford Gallery of Art. The Waterford art scene was so important and supportive in the development of my art practice as a teenager.

“I have very fond memories of being a member of Waterford Youth Drama, visiting galleries including the Dyehouse, Garter Lane and Greyfriars and I was lucky enough to have tutors including Roger Garbett (Newtown School) and Anne O’Regan. It’s fantastic that the Waterford Gallery of Art has commissioned a poem by Waterford poet (and my English teacher at Newtown School) Edward Denniston in connection with my exhibition,” he concluded. 

‘As below, so above’ will be free to view at the gallery, with its opening hours being Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm.