Aodh Sean O'Ruairc (Hugh Sean O'Rourke) is an art graduate of the famous Glasgow School of Art. As a student Sean won the prestigious MacLaine-Watters Medal at the Royal Scottish Academy's Student Competition in 1977 and in 1978 won First Prize in the Watercolour section in the John and Mabel Craig Bequest Fund Competition at Glasgow School of Art. During the same year he was shown in Glasgow's Centre for Contemporay Arts "Artists Under Thirty" exhibition, having been selected from entrants all over the country.
Hugh Sean O’Rourke’s first one man show was in the Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries in 1981. Since then, alongside having numerous one-man shows and group exhibitions, he has worked as an illustrator, graphic designer, musician, teacher and lecturer. He has also undertaken many portrait and landscape commissions, exhibiting in various public and private galleries. His paintings are now part of many art throughout the world.
Hugh Sean O'Rourke art work captures the tranquility and natural beauty of remote Scottish and Irish landscapes, with indications of man's involvement in the vistas. His empathy with the Connemara and Western Highlands is very evident in his paintings. A colourist at heart, Sean’s imaginative use of colour helps draw the viewer into the depths of the composition.
Although Hugh Sean O’Rourke is now known more his paintings he has also had considerable success as a musician with the JSD Band, Alba and the Keltz having toured Britain, Europe and USA, producing 10 albums. He has worked with and played alongside such people as David Bowie, Supertramp, Marianne Faithful and distinguished jazz musicians and composers Mike Gibbs, John Taylor and Andy Park making music for Channel 4. Sean continues to play music alongside his painting career with both arts feeding off and influencing each other.
In addition to Red Rag Art Gallery Hugh Sean O’Rourke has exhibited at many other leading Modern Art Galleries. Each painting at Red Rag is sourced from the Hugh Sean O’Rourke artist studio and like all Red Rag Modern art and Contemporary art it can be shipped worldwide.
