John MacMonagle is a member of Sample-Studios since 2017, a board member since 2018 and was appointed Company Secretary in 2022. In the 70’s he graduated with a B.A. from NIHE (now UL) and a H. Dip. from UCC. He later attended Crawford College of Art and Design and was a member of Cork Arts Collective and worked as an arts administrator with Triskel Arts Centre. In the 80’s he taught in a finishing school in Switzerland and worked as a designer with QuarkXpressfor in the US before he came back to Cork, in 1993 and set up Raven Design, a visual communication company, where he is Creative Director. When he grows up he wants to be a full time artist.
“I am a mature visual artist, practicing in painting and mixed media collage with a strong interest in contemporary experiences and interpretations of outsider cultures and psychological otherness. The image of the Head or “portrait” as both timeless symbol of human identity and contemporary image of fractured psyche has been the main focus of my research. I have returned to art practice after many years in other creative industries, driven by my life-held interest in contemporary art. As well as developing a new studio practice, the complex poetics of rendering the image of the human experience continues to develop and hold my attention – alongside my exploration of new, found and traditional materials. Materials sometimes suggest an image or prompt the charge of expressive gestures in the work. What runs through and continues to fascinate me is the primacy of art, its psychological force and my relationships with it.” – John MacMonagle