Diarmuid Woodcock is an emerging Irish visual artist based in Skerries, North County Dublin. He graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2023 with a BA in Fine Art. His work explores the ideas of the “Flâneur”, documenting the world around him with a focus on local buildings and houses in rural and suburban Ireland.
Woodcock's debut solo exhibition “Gone for a Gander” opened in the Highlanes Gallery in January 2025. Other recent exhibitions include the “Ballaghaderreen Arts Festival” in 2025, the “Phizzfest Members Exhibition” with BKB Visual Artist Studios and “21 Bridges to the Sea” in the Clancy Quay Studios in 2024. He participated in the Mason, Hayes & Curran “Annual Art Exhibition”, “Sustain” with Dublin Modular in 2023 and “This Moment” in the Temple Bar Medical Centre. He had his graduate showcase, “Down Around the Town” in June 2023, which was long listed in the RDS Visual Artist Award 2023.
Woodcock received the Fingal Artist Support Scheme in 2023 and the Agility Award in 2024. He co-curated “Amplify” in the Highlanes Gallery in 2024 and is a member of their Youth Panel. He interned in the Cill Rialaig Arts Centre in 2024. He has led workshops in the Highlanes Gallery for Crúinniu na nÓg in 2024 and a teen workshop in 2025 as part of the running of his solo exhibition “Gone for a Gander”. He will be participating in an artist exchange between Kulturwerstatt Haus 10 and the Sarah Walker Gallery in May 2026.
Artist Statement
I am an Irish visual artist based in Skerries, North County Dublin. I graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2023 with a BA in Fine Art, specialising in painting. My work is akin to a visual documentary, following the principles of observing, recording and documenting my observations in the world around me, primarily houses and buildings.
Like a Flâneur who records his walks and reflects on his connections to a city, my paintings reflect my connection to the world around me. While the Flâneur would have the time and luxury to admire the world, my practice comes from the perspective of a worker capturing quiet, calming moments during my commute or during the workday. By deriving a sense of joy from the seemingly mundane, portrayed by seemingly innocuous and “typical” Irish dwellings and buildings, my practice highlights the ordinary in the midst of the chaos of contemporary society.
I observe the area I am in and record domestic architecture, local businesses, and communal areas of nature. This documentation of space also depicts the changing seasons, with daylight scenes and lit interiors at night. I incorporate different elements into my work by creating poems and text pieces that accompany the paintings to open up a conversation with the viewer. The poems serve as a link to my mind and thought processes, providing an insight into the connection I have with each painting.
