Biography

It can be so easy to take life and the people around us for granted, which is why we need work by artists such as Mick Rooney. It is they who remind us of the uniqueness and beauty that is the world around us and the people in it. There is something about his that captures not only a perfect picture in time, but he manages to make it timeless; a memory of something we may have seen or a suggestion of what we could see if we only take the time to look. His etchings are known for their vividly rendered, warm and humorous personages that often resemble the Italian Commedia dell`arte troupes of the 15th and 16th centuries. Then there are his more recent oil canvases that have been described as narrative, illustrative and magical, and have a wonderful air of controlled chaos in their heaving masses, but also dreamlike serenity in some of the quieter subjects. Rooney’s subject matter infiltrates the subconscious to produce surrealist images about life's disappointments, conundrums, minor tragedies, ironies and occasional victories that are so redolent of life’s everyday events which we miss or simply somehow forget.

It seems inappropriate to use the term ‘conventional’ about Rooney, but before he began creating his paintings he went through the same channels every aspiring artist must. His artistic career kicked off at the Sutton School of Art in1959, followed by Wimbledon School of Art where he stayed until 1964. He then attended the Royal College of Art between 1964 and 1967 where he won Major scholarship to study at the British School of Rome for a year from 1967-68.It was whilst in Rome that he was approached by the Franciscan Order for a commission that really was one in a million-they asked him to produce a wall mosaic for a new Basilica in Nazareth, Israel–a truly prodigious start and one which has been followed by many successes, propelling Rooney into the limelight as one of this countries best-loved painters. That said, he has never lost his human touch and continues to be heavily involved in the teaching side of art, inspiring the next generation, something which culminated in him being made Head of Painting at the Royal Academy Schools in 1991.

Rooney’s early solo exhibitions were held from 1965 at the Fulham Gallery, London, and went on to include the likes of Galerie Petit, Amsterdam, Seasons Gallery, The Hague and Patrick Seale Gallery, London, with regular solo shows being held at the Mercury Gallery, London from 1984. A retrospective of his work (covering the period 1978 to 1988) was held in 1989 and toured Folkestone, Eastbourne and Bath. His most recent exhibition at the Royal Academy was L on Earth (Love, Lust, Loss and Longing etc) in June 2007. Rooney’s work has been included in a huge variety of group exhibitions in Britain and abroad. Among his commissions count a painting to celebrate the centenary of the Financial Times (1988), a poster for London Underground (1990), a tapestry commissioned by TSB for its Birmingham Headquarters (woven by Edinburgh Tapestry Company)and a book cover for Mr. and Mrs. Noah–recent poems by Brendan Kennely. He was elected RA, 1991followed by the Royal Society of Painters and Printmakers in 2001.