John Beattie
b. 1980, Ireland
John Beattie is a visual artist, originally from Donegal, and based in Dublin, Ireland. Beattie’s work involves still and moving image productions. In his process he re-addresses historical, cultural, and political narratives commonly through a cinematic lens. A feature of his practice is a staged and choreographed quality. His work invites the viewer to question and get involved with its place in time - historical time, and, a space with time he refers to as - studio time. For Beattie, the subject and object of the studio is a focal point - The Studio embodies its own unique temporal properties.
Primary examples of his inquiry can be seen in works such as PERFORMING NGI.988, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Ireland, and The LAB Gallery, Dublin City Arts Office; A Line of Inquiry at Fort Dunree Museum, curated by Declan Sheehan, Co.Donegal; The two-part film An Artist, The Studio, and all the rest... that was produced & directed between 2006-2012 in The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) and in The Great Hall at The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) Dublin, then exhibited as a solo show at The Royal Hibernian Academy, curated by Patrick Murphy. In the work titled The Artist’s Studio Series, this work has been an on-going and evolving body of work that has been exhibited nationally and internationally since 2005.
Currently, Beattie is working towards his solo show at The Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery, Dublin, curated by Michael Dempsey. A long-term project of research and development titled RECONSTRUCTING MONDRIAN. A highly choreographed moving-image artwork, produced and directed by Beattie (2013-2022) that re-addresses a reconstruction of Piet Mondrian's Paris artists studio from 1921-1936. This new body of work has been supported by The Arts Council of Ireland.
Beattie has been awarded numerous artist residency programs nationally and internationally. Currently, he is Artist in Residence at the National Archives of Ireland. A two year commission to respond to the State Decade of Centenaries from 2021-2023. In 2020, he was artist in residence at The Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) Paris. He was nominated for the apexart Fellowship, New York, and spent one month with apexart on their unique Fellowship program in 2015. He has been artist in residence at Fire Station Artists' Studio, Dublin, 2006-2009; Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, 2010; Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin, 2011; and The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2011. His work has been supported and acknowledged through awards and bursaries such as The Arts Council Travel & Training Bursary, The Arts Council Projects Awards, The Arts Council Visual Artist Bursary’s, The Donegal County Council Artist Bursary’s, an Open EV+A Award, Limerick City Gallery of Art, and received the Arts Humanities Research Board grant in 2003-2005. His work is in public collections such as The Arts Council of Ireland Collection, The Office of Public Works, and the Department of Education in Ireland.
Additionally, since 2008, Beattie has worked in the visual arts professionally with Fire Station Artists’ Studios (FSAS) as part of the dedicated management team. FSAS is a leading studio organization in Ireland for professional practicing visual artists’ providing long-term live/work studio residencies of up to 2 years 9 months. FSAS also supports artistic practice through their sculptural and digital resources and facilities, their international curatorial residency, courses and workshops for practicing artists, curatorial and commissioning process, and providing opportunities for emerging, mid-career, and established artists nationally and internationally.