Roscommon artist Joe Caslin has been shortlisted for the prestigious AIB Portrait Prize 2026 at the National Gallery of Ireland.
Caslin, from Ardnanagh in Roscommon town, is among 26 artists selected from hundreds of entries from across the country. His shortlisted work, Seen, is a portrait created using pencil and digital drawing on paper.
The shortlist features work across a range of media, including painting, photography, video, pastel and mixed media.
The overall winner of the AIB Portrait Prize will receive €15,000 and will also be commissioned to create a work for the National Portrait Collection, receiving a further €5,000. Two highly commended artists will each receive €1,500.
This year’s judging panel comprises artist and TU Dublin lecturer Dr Brian Fay; Christina Kennedy, Senior Curator and Head of Collections at the Irish Museum of Modern Art; and art historian Dr Joseph McBrinn of Belfast School of Art.
The shortlisted works will go on display at the National Gallery of Ireland from November 14th, 2026, until March 14th, 2027, alongside the shortlisted entries in the AIB Young Portrait Prize. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in the Gallery on December 2nd.
Following the Dublin exhibition, the works will travel to Galway Arts Centre from April 3rd to June 27th, 2027, before moving to Limerick City Gallery of Art from July 9th to August 15th.
Dr Caroline Campbell, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said the shortlist demonstrated “an incredible breadth of Irish artistic talent”, adding that the Gallery was looking forward to presenting the exhibitions later this year.
Joe Caslin is an internationally recognised street artist, illustrator and art teacher, known particularly for his large-scale monochrome drawings and public installations.
