Connected Horizons: Clinton Kirkpatrick | Salvatore of Lucan – May 21st

Join us for the next instalment of Connected Horizons, a programme dedicated to fostering dialogue and the exchange of ideas between artists and organisations across the island. This session brings together two compelling voices in contemporary figurative painting: Dublin-based artist Salvatore of Lucan and Northern Ireland-based artist Clinton Kirkpatrick.

Despite their distinct geographic bases, both artists share a fascination with the “theatricality” of domestic and psychological spaces. This webinar offers an opportunity to explore the intersection of their practices—specifically their shared use of “explosive” colour and subversive narratives to navigate identity.

The 90-minute session will feature individual presentations from both artists, followed by an “in conversation” segment and a live audience Q&A.

• Salvatore of Lucan will discuss his approach to narrative and use of vivid, psychological figuration. He will delve into how he navigates the fluid boundary between autobiography and the surreal within his work.
• Clinton Kirkpatrick will share insights into his wider practice and recent projects, including Garden of Eden and Blind Man’s Boat. Clinton will also discuss his recent move toward “moving, talking forms” in his theatre work-in-progress—a natural evolution of the inherent theatricality found in his paintings.

This pairing provides a window into the current state of figurative painting on the island. Whether you are interested in the technical application of colour or the conceptual blurring of reality and fiction, this session promises a rich, cross-border exploration and conversation.

Salvatore of Lucan

Salvatore of Lucan was born in 1994, and graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2016. He won the Zurich Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland in 2021. The Arts Council of Ireland’s Next Generation Award in 2019. He has been shortlisted for the Hennessy Craig Prize at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin in both 2019 and 2026. Recent commissions include his portrait of Paul McGrath for the National Gallery of Ireland in 2025, and his portraits of the Six Taosigh, who trained at the Kings Inns Dublin, which was unveiled in 2024.

Clinton Kirkpatrick

Clinton Kirkpatrick is based in Belfast, Ireland, working with paint, drawing and collage. His work examines concepts surrounding the human condition, storytelling and the absurd, through personal experience and various systemic relationships within society and culture. He’s interested in how we function as humans; he’s interested in how stories form and the evolving narrative, or how time changes and adapts storytelling (the modification and manipulation of truth) to suit the contemporary human. Clinton has exhibited nationally and internationally and has published three books of drawings, ‘World View from a White Picket Fence’, ‘In Elephant We Trust’, and ‘Observing. Digesting. Spitting.’ More recently he has been exploring theatre moving work from a 2-D surface into a 3-Dimensional realm.

Poster Image Credits:

Salvatore of Lucan – Photography by Sorcha Frances Ryder. Image courtesy of the artist.

Clinton Kirkpatrick – Photography by Rachel McCarthy. Image courtesy of the artist

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