New Irish Art, 26 Years [2000 - 2026]

Reflections [at 26 Years]

At the heart of New Irish Art is its audience, and after 26 years, that relationship remains the most meaningful measure of what the project has become. Visitors arrive from across Ireland, from the Irish diaspora spread through the UK, North America, Australia and beyond, and from art lovers worldwide who may have no connection to Ireland at all but who find something here that speaks to them. It is that quiet, sustained attention, people returning month after month and year after year, that has given the project its purpose and its energy.

The range of work presented over those 26 years has been genuinely remarkable. From oil on canvas to linocut, from sculpture and found objects to watercolour and mixed media, the project has never sought to define Irish art by any single vision or tradition. More than 870 artists have decided to share the space here, emerging artists and seasoned professionals alike, from the west of Ireland to the north, from cities and coastlines and bog roads, each bringing something distinct. That breadth is not incidental, it is the project's identity.

This project was made possible by the technical foundation that underpins it. Since 2000, the challenge has been to ensure that every piece of art is presented online at a reasonable quality, properly sized, faithfully reproduced, and reliably accessible to anyone, anywhere, on any device. Each work remains the intellectual property of the artist who made it, and that ownership is respected and clearly marked throughout. As standards and technologies have shifted across a quarter century of the web, our commitment has remained the same, that the distance between an artist's work and an interested audience should be as short as we can possibly make it.

A project like this cannot be built in isolation. Behind 26 years of New Irish Art stand the talented artists who trusted the project with their work, and a smaller but equally vital group, the close-by and regular helpers and cheerleaders who gave their time, encouragement and belief at moments when it mattered most. Their contribution is woven into everything here, and the gratitude for what they made possible never fades.

Proud of you all,

Tom Hogarty, A Dreamer