A local artist’s poignant picture of his dad has earned him a place at one of the world’s most prestigious art exhibitions.
Daniel Nelis’ painting, Man with Closed Eyes, has been selected to be shown as part of the National Portrait Gallery Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 20224.
Daniel, who is from Gartan, is already an award winning visual artist, an art educator and an early stage curator.
He has been teaching in St Eunan’s College in Letterkenny since 2018.
A recent graduate of the MA in Collections & Curating at UCD, he was also awarded the Michael McCarthy Medal for achieving the highest results in this course.
Artist Daniel Nelis.
In 2011 when he had just left secondary school, Daniel was awarded the Derek Hill Foundation Award at the Glebe Gallery Annual Exhibition.
The exhibition featuring Daniel’s stunning portrait of his dad will open at the National Portrait Gallery in London from July 11th to October 27th this year.
Only 50 portraits are chosen from around the world for the exhibition.
Daniel said he was “over the moon” that his painting had been chosen to be exhibited.
He said “This is one of the world’s most prestigious exhibitions showcasing contemporary portrait painting, and I couldn’t be more delighted to be one of the 50 artists selected for this year’s show.”
