ARTIST STATEMENT
Michael Gurhy’s work centres on the body as a site of transformation—held in moments of collapse, exposure, and becoming.
Figures appear suspended rather than stable: elongated, arched, or draped, as if caught between resistance and surrender. The body is not resolved, but shifting—hovering between vulnerability, display, intimacy and observation, suggesting not a fixed identity, but a continual process of undoing and becoming.
His work draws on a cross-historical visual language, where staged images disrupt and rework traditional narrative. Beauty and violence are held in tension, often carrying a quiet sense of premonition.
BIO
Michael Gurhy (b. 1982) is an Irish-born artist based in London. His work explores the body as a site of transformation, often staged in moments of exposure and becoming. Drawing on a cross-historical visual language, his practice moves between myth, psychoanalysis and image-making, where beauty and violence are held in tension.
Gurhy studied Fine Art at Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork, before completing an MA at Central Saint Martins, London, and an MRes at the Royal College of Art. He was the inaugural recipient of the Crawford Open Artist Award.
Recent exhibitions include William Blake and Conflict Beyond Borders and Forms at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; & Still Different Worlds at Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London; Fragments of the Future at Hangar Gallery, London; and Visions at the Nunnery Gallery, London.
His work is held in the collections of University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology and Soho House.
SELECTED CV
Education
MRes Fine Art & Humanities, Royal College of Art, London (2024)
MA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (2009)
Selected Exhibitions
Fragments of the Future, Hangar Gallery, London (2024)
William Blake and Conflict Beyond Borders and Forms, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (2024)
Visions, Programme 2, led by Webb-Ellis, Nunnery Gallery, London (2022)
Fearful Symmetry, AMP Gallery, London (2022)
TQAF: What is Eros?, MoMus Experimental Centre, Thessaloniki (2019)
Bow Open Show, Nunnery Gallery, London (2016) – Curated by Anj Smith
Bittersweet, Doswell Gallery & Macroom Town Hall Gallery, Ireland (2010)
Death and Desire, Sirius Arts Gallery, Cobh, Ireland (2007)
Awards & Grants
Crawford Open Artist Award – Selected by Frances Morris & Enrique Juncosa
Arts Council England – Project Grant (2020) & DYCP (2021)
U.C.C. Purchase Prize (selected by the Lewis Glucksman Gallery)
Installation/Video Award – Cork Film Centre
Arts Festival Prize – Cork Institute of Technology
Residencies & Fellowships
Soho Fellowship Programme, London (2022)
LADA Study Room Research Residency, London (2020)
Collections
University College Cork Collection
Cork Institute of Technology Collection
Soho House Permanent Collection
Talks & Public Engagement
Panel Discussion, Soho House, London (2024)
Talk on Art and Neurodivergence, Royal College of Art, London (2023)