In conversation event with artist John Noel Smith and art critic, Aidan Dunne

About the artist
Born in Dublin, John Noel Smith is a critically acclaimed contemporary artist known for his powerful, non-figurative paintings and sculptural installations. Following his art school education in Dublin and Germany, Smith lived and worked in Berlin for more than 20 years. Alongside fellow painter friends and colleagues such as Markus Lüpertz, Martin Kippenberger, A.R. Penck, Bernd Koberling and many others, Smith developed his painterly voice in a city that was at that time the centre of Europe's international art scene.

Smith's paintings explore the convergence of personal memory, cultural history and the formal language of abstraction. These are works with universal resonance that speak of the persistence of conflict and global challenges; contrasting systems are embedded within the fabric of the painting, bridging the interplay between abstraction, narrative, intellect and emotion. John Noel Smith is a member of Aosdána and his work is included in important museum, institutional and private collections around the world.