Aengus Dewar decided to become a painter in 1992 when he first saw Caravaggio’s ‘Supper at Emmaus’, then on loan to the National Gallery in Dublin. He was immediately galvanised by the virtuosity and power of a great painting beautifully conceived and balanced, and the sheer alchemy required to grab the three dimensions we know in life andcompress them successfully into two on a canvas using no more than some crushed coloured minerals in oil and some hairs on the end of a stick to move them around.
After six years of attempting to teach himself while juggling various jobs, he packed his bags and departed for Florence on a scholarship to receive a formal training at the C. Cecil atelier, where he was soon appointed to a lectureship by Cecil. In 2002 he returned to Ireland to paint in the quiet solitude of rural Limerick. To date he has worked
solely as a commission painter with patrons and buyers around Europe and the U.S.A. He has submitted only two pieces to public scrutiny before now, both to the ARC Salon in New York in 2007 and 2009. Each
was a shortlisted finalist.
At first glance, Aengus’ paintings are eclectic, ranging over classical subject matter to the contemporary, but dig a little deeper and one sees that all are informed by an abiding interest in humanity through the ages, how we think and feel, how we act and behave, when alone or when dealing with powerful circumstances around us. Often he uses allegory to give his paintings depth and turns that are not intended to be immediately apparent.
Aengus believes strongly that great painting in the western tradition is at its most evocative and potent when it concerns itself with subject matter and values that are universal, that go far beyond a single culture, place or period. He also feels that the best figurative art is informed by sympathy rather than cynicism in respect of the human condition. With that in mind, he attempts always to “fuel my paintings from the guts, martial them from the head and temper them
with the heart.”
