Niall Naessens is a draughtsman and an etcher who makes landscapes. He lives and works in Brandon, West Kerry.
"Landscape imagery extracted primarily from the topography of West Kerry, where I live and work, embellished with memory, dreams and invention establish my pictures. The human figure, often an artist, occasionally a philosopher, often appears inviting us to share their outlook.
Developing a brand of 21st century Irish Romanticism, I enquire into our emotional connection with the world. With colour and motif I contrive to portray my world in fantastic compositions.
Avoiding the picturesque for the sublime my work modestly proposes several meanings. The isolation of the artist in a remote place is central to my work but satellite themes around geology, time, environment, philosophy and physics are tacitly suggested.
The irish language poet Cathal O'Searcaigh titled my recent show Ar Imeall an Iontais - The Edge of Marvellous so describing, more succinctly than I can, the realm my work occupies."
Niall Naessens completed his MA Fine Art Print at NCAD in 2013. He is a long-time member of Graphic Studio Dublin where he has been involved in many initiatives and projects, including Director of GSD for five years. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers in 2020.
Nessens has had 29 solo shows in Ireland and abroad and regularly participates in group shows and projects. Most recent solo shows; SO Fine Art Dublin 2021. Graphic Studio Dublin 2023, An Gailearai Gaoth Dobhair 2023 and Grilse Gallery Kiilorglin 2023 Greenlanes Gallery Dingle 2024. He has work in Kwaidan, an exhibition of prints travelling Japan and Ireland. Naessens has just completed work for Between Islands at Glasgow Printmakers and Graphic Studio. He also has work in Boyle arts Festival, MÓR Graphic Studio, Wollwich Print Fair and RE at Bankside Gallery London this year. He is next working toward A Walk in the Sublime, a solo exhibition at the Ashford Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin in 2025.
