Stephen Forbes
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InterStephen ForbesView more details
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FlowStephen ForbesView more details
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Transit Study, 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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BoundStephen ForbesView more details
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WhirlStephen ForbesView more details
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Shallow EndStephen ForbesView more details
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Circle SkatersStephen ForbesView more details
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LostStephen ForbesView more details
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Lost Study IIStephen ForbesView more details
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Lost Study IIIStephen ForbesView more details
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Green Ice Study IIStephen ForbesView more details
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Ice Circle, 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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Green Ice Study I, 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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Distance, 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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Chill, 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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Trace , 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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Upright, 2023Stephen ForbesView more details
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Round We GoStephen ForbesView more details
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RinkStephen ForbesView more details
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DirectionStephen ForbesView more details
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Ice RinkStephen ForbesView more details
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No WhereStephen ForbesView more details
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BalanceStephen ForbesView more details
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ShadowlandStephen ForbesView more details
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South WestStephen ForbesView more details
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PathStephen ForbesView more details
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MillennialsStephen ForbesView more details
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East II, 2021Stephen ForbesView more details
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WashStephen ForbesView more details
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Figure Study IStephen ForbesView more details
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Blue HollowsStephen ForbesView more details
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Blue FiguresStephen ForbesView more details
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Ice Figure Study II, 2022Stephen ForbesView more details
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Moon Dance StudyStephen ForbesView more details
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Balance, 2022Stephen ForbesView more details
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Figure Skaters Study IIIStephen ForbesView more details
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Pedestrian'sStephen ForbesView more details
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Waves, 2021Stephen ForbesView more details
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December MorningStephen ForbesView more details
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Bather StudyStephen ForbesView more details
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Easterly, 2022Stephen ForbesView more details
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Night Skaters, 2022Stephen ForbesView more details
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Summer Swimmers II, 2019Stephen ForbesView more details
Stephen Forbes was born in Northern Ireland in 1973. He trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London and at the Liverpool John Moores University. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy Main Galleries, The Royal Academy Sackler Wing, The Royal Hibernian Academy, and the The London Art Fair.
He has previously exhibited with the Tom Caldwell Gallery (Belfast), Charles Gilmore Gallery (Belfast), Barbara Stanley Gallery (London) Oriel Gallery (Dublin) and Rebecca Hossack Gallery (London). He now exhibits with Gormleys Fine Art (Dublin and Belfast).
Pleasure is a word seldom used in the current vocabulary of art criticism and commentary; yet it is the term with which best describes Forbes works. Children jumping and swinging, women diving, men swimming - a celebration of playfulness which ignores the obsessive introspection about self, the pretentious addressing of social issues, and the knowing speculation about the process of art making - these are the starting points for the works by Forbes.
It is not only the subjects of these paintings and drawings for which we use the word 'pleasure'. The sheer enjoyment of the procedures of painting by the artist as he works is inextricably linked to what is represented. The drawings are full of a quick wit and a lively touch which give them the quality of dancing thoughts, but of thoughts which are based on a keen observation of real figures and knowledge of the traditions of figure drawing, as well as being a reaction to the jostling marks on the surface of the paper. The fundamentals of the painter's business are referred to, but not laboured: the colours are red, yellow and blue, the primary pigments; the actions take place in the air, on the earth, in the water.
"It would seem that Stephen Forbes has put together a language which might be used for a wider range of subjects than those represented here: one could think of the satires of William Hogarth, the grim depictions of battles by Jacques Callot or the mangas of Hokusai. We may certainly look forward to many interesting developments in his work and while the paintings encourage us to enjoy them, there is no doubt of the underlying seriousness of the artist's intentions".
- Stephen McKenna, President, Royal Hibernian Academy.
Forbes' work is held in public and private collections including the Allied Irish Bank , The Deutsche Bank, The Four Seasons Hotel Dublin, Queens University Belfast, Leverhulme, The Galgorm Estate and Spa, The Ulster Bank and The Office of Public Works.
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Art + Soul: International Art and Sculpture Exhibition
Castlemartyr Resort, Co Cork 28 May - 18 Jun 2023Art + Soul showcase over 250 artworks by some of the biggest names in international and Irish art, including Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Salvador Dali, Francis Bacon and Banksy. Included...Read more -
Stephen Forbes - Ice Series
At the Merchant Hotel Belfast 16 Feb - 16 Mar 2023Gormleys is delighted to present an exhibition by one of Northern Ireland's most exciting artists, Stephen Forbes. The exhibition will be held in our permanent gallery space in the 5* Merchant Hotel in Belfast city centre.Read more