THE WEY GALLERY |  Terry Bradley

Brought up on Belfast’s Shankill Road during the height of the Northern Ireland’s conflict, Bradley followed an unconventional route to art success, with little formal training or art qualifications. However, it is something he is very proud of. “Painting” he says, “reflects who I am, not what I learnt at a school.”

A young Bradley left home to undertake a number of odd jobs across the globe before returning to the Emerald Isle where he worked at a variety of things during the day and at night he hung out at trendy clubs and bars including the POD, where he got his first break.

“POD owner John Reynolds had done me a few favours during my Dublin days, so to repay him I painted a canvas depicting all the characters who hung out in the club. He loved it, and the next thing I knew I had agreed to do a show, with John providing the push I needed to turn what was then a hobby into a career.”

That show in 1997, like all others since, was a complete sell-out and his paintings hang on the walls of the most fashionable and exclusive private homes as well as adding to the decor of many of Europe’s top pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels. His client list reads like a who’s who of the Irish music scene and includes rock legends The Edge from U2, Sinead O’Connor, Jim and Sharon Corr, singer Brian Kennedy and best friend Ronan Keating.

Bradley’s work features strong portraits of individuals from trips across Europe but also of his home towns, Belfast and Dublin with striking images of modern women remaining a trait. He has recently focused on the Burlesque dancers of both Europe and New York where he visited the New York Burlesque Festival. He also paints hard, working class men from the docklands area. The two subjects may seem worlds apart but Bradley sees them as intrinsically joined. He says, “I am always drawn to the strength that ordinary people have within themselves. The dockland workers had to be strong, not just physically but mentally. To live the lives they did, Irish dockers travelled the world and helped build the modern world, their contribution and sacrifice has been taken for granted for years but I’m fascinated by who these men were. The women who entertained them had their own hardships to live with and their strength was no less than the men’s. The modern world of the Burlesque dancer has moved on from the seedy nightlife of its beginnings but I still see in them that inner strength that women have.”