Biography

Niall Bracken is an artist whose work has many strands, with the two main strands taking sharply contrasting visual forms.
Although a portrait painter whose brush can capture something beyond just a mere likeness of his subject - an emotion, a characteristic, or a mood - much of Niall Bracken’s current work tends to veer towards abstract expressionism.

Born in Ireland, Niall Bracken grew up in Monkstown, County Dublin, and studied at the National College of Art and at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Technology. He then took over the management of the graphic design studio of a large Dublin advertising agency. He joined Peter Owens Ltd, the Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations company, and was later appointed Managing Director. This led to a career in business when his love of drawing and painting had to be put to one side.

Thirteen years ago he moved to Waterford to open his studio and work fulltime as a professional artist. He has exhibited successfully throughout Ireland including at galleries in Waterford, Wexford, Tipperary, Cork, Galway and Dublin. His work is in collections in the UK, USA and Ireland, including Waterford County Civic Offices permanent collection, Waterford City Municipal Art permanent collection, and the National Health Services Executive collection.

He has been an artist-in-residence at the prestigious Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan and at the Cill Rialaig artists’ retreat in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry.\r\n\r\nNiall Bracken is a founder-member of the Waterford Life Art Group, and he was tutor to the New Ross Painters Group.

He is co-author with his wife, Pauline, of the novel, The Dalkey Persuaders, and he has recently published his first full collection of poems, Now & Then, A Collection of Poems and Other Pieces, with the support of Waterford City Council.