John Sheehy
About John Sheehy
John Sheehy — also known as John Joseph Sheehy and John J. Sheehy — is an Irish-born contemporary artist living and working in London. Born in 1949 in South-West Ireland, Sheehy moved to London as a child and worked in the building trade as a roofer for over two decades before turning to art at the age of fifty-one, encouraged by The Big Issue arts group.
In the years since, Sheehy has developed a prolific, self-taught practice that spans painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, poetry and playwriting. His paintings, monoprints and linocuts draw on personal recollection: rural Ireland, London street scenes, sailing ships, terraced houses, shoe-shiners and chimney sweeps, rendered with extraordinary speed and an intuitive, unfiltered directness that has drawn comparison to outsider and folk traditions.
Sheehy's work is held in the Arts Council Collection and has been shown at Studio Voltaire, Outpost Gallery and Atom Gallery, where he was the subject of the solo exhibition An Introspective. Limited-edition prints and original works by John Sheehy are available exclusively through Atom Gallery.
Key facts
Full name: John Joseph Sheehy
Born: 1949, South-West Ireland
Based: London, United Kingdom
Mediums: Painting, monoprint, linocut, screenprint, ceramics, sculpture
Themes: Rural Ireland, London street life, memory, vernacular subjects
Collections: Arts Council Collection
Selected exhibitions: Studio Voltaire (London), Outpost (London), Atom Gallery (London) — John J. Sheehy: An Introspective
Available at: Atom Gallery, Stoke Newington, London
Frequently asked questions
Who is John Sheehy? John Sheehy is an Irish-born, London-based contemporary artist working across painting, printmaking, poetry and sculpture. He began painting at the age of 51 and has built a prolific body of work over the past two decades.
Where can I buy John Sheehy prints? Original monoprints and limited-edition linocuts by John Sheehy are available through Atom Gallery in Stoke Newington, London, and online at atomgallery.co.uk.
Is John Sheehy's work in any public collections? Yes — John Sheehy's work is held in the Arts Council Collection, the UK's largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art.
What subjects does John Sheehy paint? Sheehy's subjects include the landscape and life of rural Ireland, London street scenes, terraced houses, sailing ships, portraits and abstract compositions, often drawn from personal memory.
An etching by John Sheehy with two figures and the words “Two Faced” - signed and numbered by the artist.
Artist John Sheehy
Size 54 X 55 cm
Medium original
Year 2019