Neil-Jack Alphonsus Hamilton

Neil-Jack believes his goal is to give the viewer a glimpse into a life. By spending time with his subjects before painting them, he gets a strong sense of their energy, which then helps him to capture their essence. By capturing their essence, he frames a narrative. What that narrative is, Neil believes, is the mystery to be uncovered.

In terms of subjects, everyday people are Neil-Jack’s biggest inspiration. “Within every person is a full life: we love, we feel joy, we work, we feel pain. My role as a painter is to document part of a person’s life.”

To unlock the mystery, Neil-Jack works almost journalistically. He leans towards psychology, finding an inner narrative, something that is deeply meaningful to the person, such as a recurring dream or obsession – two of the many narratives people hold within.

After graduating in Fine Art from the University of Ulster and having his work exhibited in numerous local exhibitions, Neil-Jack moved to Spain where he became involved in live performance drawing. In 2018, Neil-Jack moved back to Ireland and began to specialise in oil portraiture. He is regularly commissioned for portraits and also teaches life drawing in Donegal.