John Kirby

Career

Kirby trained at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London. He created a large body of work that included both painting and sculpture and has cited his religious background as a strong influence, as well as the "ambiguity of sex and gender" in his work.

Kirby's first major retrospective was held at the Walker Art Gallery in 2012, with more than fifty of his paintings and several of his sculptures. His work was described as "bleak and lonely" and dominated by "solitary figures in strange worlds."

Death

Kirby died on 21 March 2025, at the age of 76.

Solo exhibitions

2014 Play Time, Flowers Cork Street, London

2013 John Kirby, Flowers New York

2012 The Living and the Dead, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

2011 Ghosts, Flowers Cork Street, London

2010 What Remains, Flowers East, London

2009 Home, Flowers Cork Street, London

2007 Being Alive, Flowers Cork Street, London

2006 Mixed Blood, Flowers, New York

2006 Il Polittico, Rome

2005 Absent Friends, Flowers Cork Street, London

2005 New prints and monotypes, Flowers Graphics, London

2003 Someone Else Flowers, New York

2002 Flowers Cork Street, London

2002 Paintings, Flowers West, Santa Monica, California

2000 New Prints and Monoprints, Flowers Graphics, London

2000 Il Polittico, Rome

1999 Lost Children, Flowers East, London

1998 Lost Children, Flowers West, Santa Monica, California

1997 In the Dark, Flowers East, London

1997 John Kirby, Il Polittico, Rome

1996 Art Basel 27, Switzerland

1995 The Company of Strangers, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull

1994 The Company of Strangers, Flowers East, London

1993 The Sign of the Cross, Angela Flowers Gallery, London

1992 Homeland, Flowers East, London

1991 Homeland, Lannon Cole Gallery, Chicago

1991 New York and Related Works, Flowers East, London

1989 Still Lives, Flowers East, London

1988 Other People's Lives, Angela Flowers (Ireland) Inc., Co.Cork

1988 Other People's Lives, Angela Flowers (Ireland) Inc., Co.Cork

1987 Artist of the Day, Angela Flowers Gallery, London

Public collections

Contemporary Art Society

Ferens Art Gallery, Hull

Irish Contemporary Art Society

John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton

Royal College of Art Collection

Tate Gallery, London

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth

Victoria & Albert Museum

René Magritte Foundation, Brussels

In popular culture

Kirby's "Self Portrait 1987" is seen on-screen, and referenced by the character Armand Goldman (Robin Williams) in the 1996 film The Birdcage. In an early scene, Armand defends the fine art to his son, Val (Dan Futterman), who requests his father tone down the décor exclaiming "The Kirby? That's art!"