Brian Ballard RUA
Artist Bio
Brian Ballard was born in Belfast in 1942. He attended the College of Art, Belfast, and later, the College of Art in Liverpool. He currently lives in Belfast but often spends time on the island of Innisfree. He is particularly attracted to everyday subjects, often painting them in different atmospheres or from unusual perspectives.
Bold and expressionist, Ballard oftens adopts a vibrant palette and gestural brushstrokes to capture his subject. Sharing a modernist sentiment, his work anchors figurative elements in highly abstracted compositions, playing with form and light to achieve an altered perception of typical genre subjects, such as landscapes, still life scenes and nude studies. Ballard’s approach to landscapes is predominantly ‘en plein air’, as he often spends time painting of the coasts of Donegal and Kerry.