Photograph by ©Bryan O’Brien for The Irish Times, Michael Kane studio, April 2025
Born in Dublin in 1935, Michael Kane has been considered one of Ireland’s finest and most innovative artists.
Kane’s paintings and prints incorporate vibrant colour and mythological references and have been exhibited in Ireland and Britain since the 1960s. He worked for extended periods in Britain, Switzerland and Spain, was a member of Independent Artists and a founder of both the Project Arts Centre and the magazine Structure.
Known for his energy and maverick spirit, Kane’s 2023 memoir recounts a vivid and extraordinary life. Still producing at 90, he created new works on paper for an exhibition that has just opened in Dublin’s Taylor Galleries; his striking figures are as bold and vibrant as ever.
His paintings and prints incorporate vibrant colour and mythological references. He has held many exhibitions at the Rubicon Gallery, Dublin and the Art Space Gallery, London, as well as solo shows at the Lincoln Gallery, Dublin; Galway Arts Centre; Kilkenny Arts Festival; Monaghan County Museum; and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The RHA Gallery held a major retrospective of his work in 1995.
His work is held by the Abbey Theatre; Allied Irish Banks; Aer Lingus; Bank of Ireland; Contemporary Irish Art Society; Coras Iompair Éireann; the Arts Council; Government Buildings, Dublin; Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Municipal Gallery, Tampere, Finland; the National Self-Portrait Collection at the University of Limerick; and N.I.B. Capital Bank, London.
Maura McGrath, Chair of the Arts Council, said: “Michael Kane’s innovation was evident in his imaginative and observant work. His contributions to Irish art, both as an individual artist and from his involvement in championing the arts community, are great. He will be sorely missed, but his work will continue to inspire generations to come.”
Cecily Brennan Chair of the Toscaireacht of Aosdána, said:
“On behalf of the members of Aosdána I express our sadness at the death of Michael Kane and extend our condolences to Michael’s wife, Shelley Mc Namara, who is also a member of Aosdána.
Michael Kane was uncompromising and opinionated about artwork, art politics and life, completing a new body of vibrant, life-filled beautiful works on paper for a show at the Taylor Galleries, opened to the public the day before he died at the age of 89. In many ways, this is what artists dream of, not only being able to work until the end, but to be able to make better and better work until the end.
His legacy as an artist and activist is extensive. He was a founding member of Independent Artists in 1960; an active participant in Project 67, a three week event at the Gate Theatre, initiated by Colm O’Briain and Jim Fitzgerald, with plays, music and an art exhibition featuring work by Michael, John Behan, Charles Cullen, and John Kelly, and public readings of banned books by Edna O’ Brien leading to the liberalisation of censorship laws within six months. The event provided the impetus for the founding of the Project Arts Centre which, within a couple of years, was set up in the basement of the YMCA in Middle Abbey Street in Dublin, moving, in 1974, to the present site in East Essex Street.
“He has always had one foot in the literary camp, so to speak, and one in visual art. Reading, writing and publishing have been significant areas of endeavour, not distinct from printmaking and painting, but all facets of one imagination, one sensibility.” Aidan Dunne The Irish Times
In 1972 Michael Kane published ‘Structure’ a 10-issue socio-political journal of art and thought, described by Anthony Cronin as “a rampageous anti-establishment voice” exhorting artists to reject the obsession with the rural and engage with modern and contemporary life. Kane published the work of many artists, Alice Hanratty, Macdara Woods, Eilean Ní Chulleanáin, Paul Durcan, Mary Farl Powers and others.
His was a complete life melding art, life and politics. We are the richer for his work and his voice. His presence will be sorely missed.
Michael’s powerful work was exhibited extensively and can be seen at the moment at several locations in Dublin including his solo exhibition at Taylor Galleries (until June 14); at IMMA in ‘Staying with the Trouble’ inspired by author and philosopher Donna Haraway (until Sept 21) and his series “Agamemnon Felled”, in the Hugh Lane Gallery collection. Major surveys of his work were held in Solstice Art Centre 2008, Butler Gallery 2015, Hugh Lane Gallery 2016-17and RHA Gallery and IMMA in 1995.”