Paul Ringrose (1957-2019) was an important Irish artist of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. He found his vocation as a painter of the woodlands near his home in West Cork, applying a meticulous and methodical approach to capturing dense forest scenes without pathways or an apparent focal point.

Ringrose showed widely in Dublin, Laois, West Cork and in Italy in the latter part of his life and gathered a dedicated following of friends and private collectors along the way. Writer and broadcaster Victoria Glendinning said his paintings “are visceral, immersive experiences. Tangled forms of vegetation completely fill each canvas – except when a splash of sunlight pierces the density. They are not gloomy. They are attentive markings of what he knew.”

Gallery director and art historian Peter Murray said, “the viewer is thrust into a close-up confrontation with trees; mossy trunks, root and branch, bark and leaf. These works are immersive, with foreground, middle ground and background compressed into a sometimes claustrophobic space. Ringrose puts the observer literally in the woods, face to face with nature.”

While enjoying popularity and considerable critical acclaim, particularly around his four solo shows at the Doswell Gallery in Rosscarbery between 2008 and 2018 – and acceptance for the Royal Hibernian Academy’s Annual Exhibition eight times between 1998 and 2018 – during his working life Paul unfortunately did not achieve wider acknowledgement in the Irish art scene or internationally.

With a desire to establish recognition and reputation for posterity, his brother Fergal Ringrose has written and self-published (along with publishing partner Frank Quinn) a 200-page book featuring almost 120 of Paul’s works, from early experimental paintings through to large, powerful signature canvases capturing the native woodlands of Ireland.

SAMPLE WORKS FROM

Freahanes Fort, oil on canvas, 100 x 250cm

1985
Group show, Kilkenny Arts Week
Opel Kadett, oil on board, 40 x 60cm.


1986
Group show, Kilkenny Arts Week.

1994
Publication: Die Kompost Fibel by Lothar Lindner, illustrated by Paul Ringrose.

1997
In the Middle, solo show, Laois County Council Offices.

Autumn Art Exhibition, group show, The Friends of the Rotunda, 9-11 October, opened by Alan Stanford. Works by Paul Ringrose:
Coolbawn Road, acrylic on board, 42 x 56cm;
Peahen, 1992, acrylic on board, 40 x 42cm.

‘7’ Art Exhibition, Westgate Heritage Centre (continuing during the Wexford Opera Festival). Opened Sunday 19 October. Artists: Connor Regan, Andy Folan, Ivan Connolly, Denise McShannon, Jack O’Hare, Sarah Walker, Paul Ringrose.

Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children Crumlin, c.h.art exhibition of contemporary Irish art and sculpture at Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel, Killiney, 4-11 December. Group show. Works by Paul Ringrose:
The Celtic Tiger; YIR 369, oil on board, 34 x 51cm;
Crucifixion 2, oil on board, 89 x 122cm.

1998
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin
YIR 369, oil on board, 34 x 51cm.


1999
Group show, Éigse Carlow Arts Festival.

2000
Group show, Guinness Hop Store, Dublin.
Group show, Éigse Carlow Arts Festival.

2001
Group show, Heritage Offices, Wexford Arts Festival.

2003
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

2004
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

2005
Dalkey Arts Gallery, Co Dublin, Paul Ringrose and Killian Schurmann. Opened by John McBratney, Chairman of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig.

Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

2008
Gibberellin, solo show, Dalkey Arts Gallery. Opened by James Hanley, Secretary of RHA 2001-2008. Catalogue designed & produced by Aisli Madden, designbos.ie.

Doswell Gallery, Rosscarbery, Co. Cork, solo show, Exhibition of paintings by Paul Ringrose. Opened by writer and broadcaster Victoria Glendinning.

2009
In residence, April and May, at the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, Connecticut, USA.

2010
Doswell Gallery, solo show, Nostalgia for Dark Woods. Opened by Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director, Josef & Anni Albers Foundation.

2011
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

Solas Glas, solo exhibition of 16 large paintings at Sopalace of the Counts Toppo-Wassermann, Toppo, Pordenone Hills, Italy.

2012
Doswell Gallery solo show, New Work - Small Paintings. Opened by Peter Murray, Director, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork.

2013
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

2014
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

2016
Group show, Doswell Gallery.

2018
Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, Dublin

Catherine Hammond Fine Arts exhibition, Elements: West Cork Landscapes, at the Skibbereen Arts Festival, July-August. Works by thirty artists including Dromillihy Reverso (acrylic on canvas, 10 x 140cm) and Stump (oil on board, 36 x 44cm) by Paul Ringrose.

Catherine Hammond Fine Arts selection for VUE Art Fair November 2018 at RHA, Ely Place, Dublin 2. Works by ten artists including Stump, Shaw’s Woods (oil on canvas, 46x53 cm), and Carrigfadda V (oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm) by Paul Ringrose.

Carrigfadda and Me, solo show, Doswell Gallery. Opened by Peter Murray, 7 December.

2022
Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, County Louth: The Tyranny of Ambition, collection of works curated by Graham Crowley including Carrigfadda II by Paul Ringrose, 2018, oil on canvas, 106 x 100cm.

2023
Morgan O’Driscoll online auction 7 March 2023: Liss Ard sold for €1,700.00.