Cecily Brennan was born in Galway in 1955 and studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin from 1974 to 1978. Brennan was Director of the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, from 1983 to 1986 and was Chair of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Visual Arts Committee from 1993 to 1997. She now lives and works in Berlin and Dublin. From a basis in painting and drawing Brennan’s practice has expanded to encompass video, sculpture and installation work that is preoccupied with the close examination and exploration of psychological trauma, physical pain and the vulnerability of the human body and psyche.
Cecily Brennan’s awards include the 1984 Grumbacher Artists Brushes Award, five Arts Council Bursaries, a three-year studio residency at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios (2003-2006), an Arts Council Project Award in 2004 and a BG2 Award as part of the Ballymun Regeneration Project that resulted in the exhibition Voices at Ballymun Civic Centre, Dublin in 2009. In 1991 she was elected a member of Aosdána. She has exhibited with the West Cork Arts Centre; Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast; Nuova Icona, Venice; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; and Ard Bia, Berlin. Her work is included in private and public collections including AIB, the Arts Council of Ireland, National Collection of Contemporary Drawing, University College Dublin, Bank of Ireland and Algemene Bank Nederland.
Exhibitions with Taylor Galleries:2010
2007 Unstrung
2005 Hero’s Engine
2003 Heat
2001 Bandaged Heart
1996 To Contain
1988 The Iceland Work
1984 Paintings from a Rhododendron Garden