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Jack Rutberg Fine Arts has extended “Patrick Graham: Notes from Ireland,” a solo exhibition of work by the important 82-year-old Irish painter, through May 2, 2026, two weeks beyond its original April 18 closing date, the gallery announced.
The extension reflects strong critical and visitor response to the show, according to the gallery, with some visitors returning on multiple occasions. The gallery also said the new dates coincide with continuing Irish cultural events from local organizations. Graham has a specific Pasadena history: in 1991, Pasadena City College brought him from Ireland as Artist-in-Residence, presenting exhibitions and lectures at both PCC and the Rutberg gallery, which has represented Graham internationally since 1987.
The exhibition features large-scale paintings and works on paper that combine ink, graphite, paint, and torn collages of Graham’s own earlier drawings mounted on board. The works span decades of a career that art historians have credited with transforming Irish painting, according to the gallery.
Patrick Graham, Deposition, 2009, Mixed Media on Board, 32 x 44 in, JRFA #9944
Graham, born in 1943 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, was by gallery accounts the youngest recipient of a scholarship to the National College of Art in Dublin at age 16. He was inducted into Aosdána — an Irish government affiliation honoring living artists who have made outstanding contributions to the creative arts — in 1986, recognition the gallery describes as designating him a “living national treasure.”
His paintings were first exhibited in the United States that same year in “Four Irish Expressionists” at Northeastern University and Boston College. At an accompanying symposium at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the renowned art historian and critic Donald Kuspit singled out Graham’s work, stating “Patrick Graham’s paintings are masterpieces… on a grand physical, emotional and intellectual scale… they are among the most complicated salient reflections on modern existence that have been made.”
Patrick Graham, The Artist, The Woman, 1983-84, Oil on Canvas, 72 1/2 x 72 1/2 inches, JRFA #10088
In 1987, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts presented Graham’s first American gallery exhibition. The gallery has served as his international representative since, supporting museum exhibitions and symposiums throughout the United States and Ireland. In 2022, Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery mounted “Patrick Graham: Transfiguration,” a major retrospective with a catalogue and lecture series.
Patrick Graham, The Blackbird Suite, 1992 – 93, Mixed Media on Board, 31 7/8 x 44 1/8 inches, JRFA #3996
“Patrick is very simply, in my view and the view of a great many, the most important artist in Ireland’s history,” Jack Rutberg, owner and director of the gallery, said in a statement published on the gallery’s website.
The gallery, founded in 1979 on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, relocated to Pasadena in December 2022. It is located at 600 South Lake Avenue, #102, on the corner of California Avenue. Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission and parking are free. A guided video tour of the exhibition is available on the gallery’s Current Exhibition webpage at: https://jackrutbergfinearts.com/exhibition/patrick-graham-notes-from-ireland/.
Patrick Graham, Studies for the Blackbird Suite, 1993, Mixed Media on Board, 31 78 x 44 18 inches, JRFA 4498
For information, call (323) 938-5222 or email jrutberg@jackrutbergfinearts.com.
“He reveals himself without exhibitionism,” Rutberg said of Graham’s work. “I have several of his paintings in my home, and they continue to confound me, challenge me. They change before my eyes each day.”
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts Inc. | Address: 600 South Lake Avenue, #102 Pasadena, CA 91106 | Tel.: 1 (323) 938-5222 | Website: https://jackrutbergfinearts.com/
