Dermot Seymour

Seymour's work is a reaction to growing up at the height of [[The Troubles]]. He juxtaposes idyllic landscapes with a host of other elements, ranging from farm animals to military helicopters, exploring symbolism, and identity to show the absurdities inherent in the Northern Irish society. In doing so, he exposes the tensions between militarization and the ordinary rural and urban communities. In a 2007 interview with ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', Seymour said of his work,

"...in the North, an object is never simply an object: it carries additional territorial significance. So, for instance, in the North, if you see a cow it isn't simply a cow. You ask: whose cow is that? It becomes a tribal symbol."

Seymour's hyper-real paintings are satirical and often described wrongly as 'Surrealist'.{{Cite web|title=Dermot Seymour|url=https://www.kevinkavanagh.ie/artists/32-dermot-seymour/overview/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107163915/https://www.kevinkavanagh.ie/artists/32-dermot-seymour/overview/|archive-date=7 January 2022|access-date=7 January 2022}} In a 1997 interview with Ian Wieczorek, he rejected this labelling by saying:

"Dali or Magritte or anyone like that wouldn't really come into my head at all. I think a lot of those Surrealists were deliberately surreal, they were contriving things. I was busy playing around with things that were actually there in front of me, in the world that was around me."{{Cite journal|last1=Seymour|first1=Dermot|last2=Wieczorek|first2=Ian|date=1997|title=The Circa Interview: Dermot Seymour: On Cows and Helicopters|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25563206|journal=Circa|issue=82|page=23|doi=10.2307/25563206|jstor=25563206 |issn=0263-9475|url-access=subscription}}

As a student in 1978, Seymour and Terence Murphy painted a community mural in the Highfields Estate in Belfast on the side of a high-rise building. The painting was commissioned as part of the ''Belfast Community Arts Project '78'' with the subjects being members of a local boxing club.{{Cite news|date=6 September 1978|title=Dermot Seymour and Terence Murphy|page=5|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1978/0906/Pg005.html|access-date=7 January 2022}} In 1981 he showed his first solo exhibition at the Art and Research Exchange, Belfast in an exhibition entitled ''Northern Images.''{{Cite news|date=29 April 1981|title=Artist Dermot draws on his experience of Belfast street life|page=9|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002318%2f19810429%2f145|access-date=6 January 2022}} He had previously shown in that same space in a group show of1978. In 1982, Seymour showed at the Octagon Gallery in a joint exhibition with Leslie Stannage.{{Cite news|last=Baird|first=Elizabeth|date=17 June 1983|title=Show with a difference|page=10|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002318%2f19830617%2f124|access-date=6 January 2022}}

Seymour's work is a reaction to growing up at the height of [[The Troubles]]. He juxtaposes idyllic landscapes with a host of other elements, ranging from farm animals to military helicopters, exploring symbolism, and identity to show the absurdities inherent in the Northern Irish society. In doing so, he exposes the tensions between militarization and the ordinary rural and urban communities. In a 2007 interview with ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', Seymour said of his work,

"...in the North, an object is never simply an object: it carries additional territorial significance. So, for instance, in the North, if you see a cow it isn't simply a cow. You ask: whose cow is that? It becomes a tribal symbol."

Seymour's hyper-real paintings are satirical and often described wrongly as 'Surrealist'.{{Cite web|title=Dermot Seymour|url=https://www.kevinkavanagh.ie/artists/32-dermot-seymour/overview/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107163915/https://www.kevinkavanagh.ie/artists/32-dermot-seymour/overview/|archive-date=7 January 2022|access-date=7 January 2022}} In a 1997 interview with Ian Wieczorek, he rejected this labelling by saying:

"Dali or Magritte or anyone like that wouldn't really come into my head at all. I think a lot of those Surrealists were deliberately surreal, they were contriving things. I was busy playing around with things that were actually there in front of me, in the world that was around me."{{Cite journal|last1=Seymour|first1=Dermot|last2=Wieczorek|first2=Ian|date=1997|title=The Circa Interview: Dermot Seymour: On Cows and Helicopters|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25563206|journal=Circa|issue=82|page=23|doi=10.2307/25563206|jstor=25563206 |issn=0263-9475|url-access=subscription}}

As a student in 1978, Seymour and Terence Murphy painted a community mural in the Highfields Estate in Belfast on the side of a high-rise building. The painting was commissioned as part of the ''Belfast Community Arts Project '78'' with the subjects being members of a local boxing club.{{Cite news|date=6 September 1978|title=Dermot Seymour and Terence Murphy|page=5|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1978/0906/Pg005.html|access-date=7 January 2022}} In 1981 he showed his first solo exhibition at the Art and Research Exchange, Belfast in an exhibition entitled ''Northern Images.''{{Cite news|date=29 April 1981|title=Artist Dermot draws on his experience of Belfast street life|page=9|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002318%2f19810429%2f145|access-date=6 January 2022}} He had previously shown in that same space in a group show of1978. In 1982, Seymour showed at the Octagon Gallery in a joint exhibition with Leslie Stannage.{{Cite news|last=Baird|first=Elizabeth|date=17 June 1983|title=Show with a difference|page=10|work=Belfast Telegraph|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002318%2f19830617%2f124|access-date=6 January 2022}}

''Theatre Ireland'' commissioned Seymour to illustrate two scripts and two consecutive covers for their double souvenir issues published in June 1984.{{Cite journal|date=1984|title=Stage Business|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25488903|journal=Theatre Ireland|issue=6|page=109|jstor=25488903 |issn=0263-6344}} His first Dublin show came a few months later when he joined another Ulster born artist Liam Magee at the [[Project Arts Centre]], in an exhibition called ''Two Tribes''.{{Cite journal|last=Cooke|first=Harriet|date=1984|title=Two Tribes · Liam Magee & Dermot Seymour|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20491695|journal=Irish Arts Review (1984–1987)|volume=1|issue=4|page=58|jstor=20491695 |issn=0790-178X}} Seymour relocated to Dublin in 1985 and two years later he moved to Annaghmakerrig, County Monaghan.{{Cite book |last=Benson |first=Ciaran |title=In the time of shaking: Irish artists for Amnesty International |publisher=Art for Amnesty |others=Amnesty International |year=2004 |isbn=0-9547258-0-8 |location=Dublin |page=281 |oclc=55132808 }} The critic [[Dorothy Walker (critic)|Dorothy Walker]] selected Seymour's work for inclusion in the 1986 ''Guinness Peat Aviation Exhibition and Awards'' for emerging young artists. He was selected alongside fellow Ulster artists [[John Kindness]] and [[Willie Doherty]], but he was not amongst the prizewinners on this occasion.{{Cite news|last=McCrum|first=Sean|date=2 November 1986|title=Seven show current drift|page=19|work=Sunday Tribune|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002321%2f19861102%2f218|access-date=6 January 2022}} Seymour showed at the annual ''Oireachtas'' show in the same year.{{Cite news|last=McCrum|first=Sean|date=28 September 1986|title=Autumn fruits|page=20|work=Sunday Tribune|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002321%2f19860928%2f261|access-date=6 January 2022}} The Paula Allen Gallery in New York was the venue for Seymour's first transatlantic one-man show in 1987, where he was to exhibit for a further two consecutive years.{{Cite book|title=When time began to rant and rage: figurative painting from twentieth-century Ireland|publisher=Merrell Holberton Publishers|others=James Christen Steward, Bruce Arnold, Walker Art Gallery|year=1998|isbn=1-85894-059-1|location=London|page=282|oclc=40736132}} Seymour received the patronage of The Arts Council of Northern Ireland once more when they hosted a solo exhibition in their Bedford Street gallery in 1989.{{Cite news|date=2 November 1989|title=What's on today|page=17|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1989/1102/Pg017|access-date=7 January 2022}}

''Theatre Ireland'' commissioned Seymour to illustrate two scripts and two consecutive covers for their double souvenir issues published in June 1984.{{Cite journal|date=1984|title=Stage Business|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25488903|journal=Theatre Ireland|issue=6|page=109|jstor=25488903 |issn=0263-6344}} His first Dublin show came a few months later when he joined another Ulster born artist Liam Magee at the [[Project Arts Centre]], in an exhibition called ''Two Tribes''.{{Cite journal|last=Cooke|first=Harriet|date=1984|title=Two Tribes · Liam Magee & Dermot Seymour|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20491695|journal=Irish Arts Review (1984–1987)|volume=1|issue=4|page=58|jstor=20491695 |issn=0790-178X}} Seymour relocated to Dublin in 1985 and two years later he moved to Annaghmakerrig, [[County Monaghan]].{{Cite book |last=Benson |first=Ciaran |title=In the time of shaking: Irish artists for Amnesty International |publisher=Art for Amnesty |others=Amnesty International |year=2004 |isbn=0-9547258-0-8 |location=Dublin |page=281 |oclc=55132808 }} The critic [[Dorothy Walker (critic)|Dorothy Walker]] selected Seymour's work for inclusion in the 1986 ''Guinness Peat Aviation Exhibition and Awards'' for emerging young artists. He was selected alongside fellow Ulster artists [[John Kindness]] and [[Willie Doherty]], but he was not amongst the prizewinners on this occasion.{{Cite news|last=McCrum|first=Sean|date=2 November 1986|title=Seven show current drift|page=19|work=Sunday Tribune|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002321%2f19861102%2f218|access-date=6 January 2022}} Seymour showed at the annual ''Oireachtas'' show in the same year.{{Cite news|last=McCrum|first=Sean|date=28 September 1986|title=Autumn fruits|page=20|work=Sunday Tribune|url=https://search.findmypast.co.uk/bna/viewarticle?id=bl%2f0002321%2f19860928%2f261|access-date=6 January 2022}} The Paula Allen Gallery in New York was the venue for Seymour's first transatlantic one-man show in 1987, where he was to exhibit for a further two consecutive years.{{Cite book|title=When time began to rant and rage: figurative painting from twentieth-century Ireland|publisher=Merrell Holberton Publishers|others=James Christen Steward, Bruce Arnold, Walker Art Gallery|year=1998|isbn=1-85894-059-1|location=London|page=282|oclc=40736132}} Seymour received the patronage of The Arts Council of Northern Ireland once more when they hosted a solo exhibition in their Bedford Street gallery in 1989.{{Cite news|date=2 November 1989|title=What's on today|page=17|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1989/1102/Pg017|access-date=7 January 2022}}

Throughout the nineties Seymour showed frequently at venues across Ireland including solo shows at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin and the [[Linenhall Arts Centre]], [[Castlebar]] in 1992,{{Cite news|last=MacAvock|first=Desmond|date=26 November 1992|title=Dermot Seymour: Project Arts Centre|page=12|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1992/1126/Pg012|access-date=7 January 2022}} and a joint exhibition with [[Micky Donnelly]] at the Fenderesky Gallery in Belfast, 1996.{{Cite news|date=17 June 1996|title=What's On Today|page=23|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1996/0617/Pg023|access-date=7 January 2022}}

Throughout the nineties Seymour showed frequently at venues across Ireland including solo shows at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin and the [[Linenhall Arts Centre]], [[Castlebar]] in 1992,{{Cite news|last=MacAvock|first=Desmond|date=26 November 1992|title=Dermot Seymour: Project Arts Centre|page=12|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1992/1126/Pg012|access-date=7 January 2022}} and a joint exhibition with [[Micky Donnelly]] at the Fenderesky Gallery in Belfast, 1996.{{Cite news|date=17 June 1996|title=What's On Today|page=23|work=Irish Times|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1996/0617/Pg023|access-date=7 January 2022}}