Contemporary Artist Interview: Feargal Doyle

Contemporary Artist Interview: Feargal Doyle

by Angela Cappetta

 

Contemporary Artist Interview: Feargal Doyle

Originally from Dublin, Feargal Doyle now lives and works in New York.  He moved to New York in 2012 via Thailand, where he and his family spent two years. During this South Asian residency, he turned to painting full-time. Prior to this, his career was fully immersed in architecture, working in Berlin, then moving up to Daniel Libeskind's studio. Doyle is also trained in set and theatre set design. 

 

In his paintings

Doyle is guided by intuitive, embodied wisdom. His paintings depict memories. Some are memories of people, places and events through his unique lens. This intuitive style is complimentary to his experience of working in the methodical, concept-driven world of architecture.  It is a means toward self understanding.  Painting allows him to communicate in a more meaningful way.

We all know how challenging water color technique is. How have you managed to master it so fluidly?

You’re very kind, but I’d hardly say I’m a master of watercolor. Moreover, my work method lies in not attempting to master the medium. My work has less to do with technique and perfection. Moreover, it has to do more with intuition. Watercolor is my preferred medium. And even though I have become more skilled over time, it is never quite under my control. It's a relationship, where I go with the flow. Mistakes can become happy accidents. So, I simply adapt and continue. As a result, the image organically will emerge. It will tell its own story.

What is the story  your fine art subject matter tells?

To enumerate, it is an art of intuition. Consider these tenets:

• Teasing the content out of my subconscious to find the relevant subject matter.
• Knowing the subject tends to depict themes that are significant to me personally.
• Perhaps there is a need to examine a city, a place in nature, an artifact, a loved one, being a parent, the gratitude of finding a home, and so on.
• Although there are certain themes that crop up frequently, like  Thai jungles, or Ireland, each painting has its own story.

Because of the size of some of your pieces, are you able to make one at a time, or several at once?

Yes, I love to work on several pieces (large and small) simultaneously. This helps to prevent me from focussing too hard on any one piece. As soon as I get stuck I move on to another piece. Decisions are often made spontaneously. I try to execute the idea quickly before my internal critic kicks in. My method is all about acting on instinct. So, sometimes I may have a particular brush in hand, or have mixed up a color that I really like. And then I'll turn around and whack it into several pieces.

Tell us about your training as a fine artist.

When in Dublin, I trained as an architect. Subsequently, I enjoyed a 15 year career in architecture.  However, I began to paint not till the age of 40. Concurrent with my studies I made theater sets. I enjoyed this greatly, and continued to work in theater on the side. Furthermore, I did a combined architecture and set design masters in Berlin.

What else do you want us to know?

So, to help put all of the above in a little more context, my background in architecture has a lot to do with my artistic method. In my experience, the human being was often forgotten in the process of architectural design. I found this frustrating. My desire to use theater as a laboratory to create fiction was born.

Moving on to painting

It is born out of a desire to communicate directly with the viewer. The language is abstract. Painting lends itself more readily to allowing the contents of my mind dump out on the paper or canvas. Furthermore, painting is complimentary to architecture. To enumerate, in architecture you begin with the big idea.

The concept leads you through a long, meticulous process.

It becomes realized.  I avoid overthinking as I paint. In essence, I attempt to work purely on intuition. I find it beneficial to avoid over analysis or preciousness. Moving fast and working on several things simultaneously helps me achieve this end. They are complimentary: painting is guided by feelings in the right brain. Architecture is guided by logic in the left brain.