Education                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

MTU Crawford College of Art and Design (BA) Honours, Bachelor of Fine Arts 2017

Awards/Residencies/Bursaries/Accolades 

• Student of The Year Award (2017)

• Backwater Studios Residency (2017)

• Backwater Artist Group Member (2018)

• Shortlisted for the UK Emerald Winter Pride Art Awards (2018)

• Winner of Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize (2018)

• Sunny Art Prize Winner (2018)

• Shortlisted for Zurich Portrait Prize in the National Gallery of Ireland (2018)

• Top 50 People to watch by Irish Times (2019)

•  Harmony Exchange Program, Shanghai Residency (2019)

• Twinning Grant – Cork City Council (2019)

• Work added to National Art Collection at Crawford Art Gallery (2019 & 2021)

• Visual Art Bursary Award - Arts Council of Ireland (2020) 

• Butler Gallery Pride Residency (2021)

• Lewis Glucksman Gallery Commission (2021)

• Added to Art History Syllabus for Leaving Cert (2021)

• Cork Pride Residency (2021)

• Peer Panelist for the Arts Council of Ireland (2021)

• Individual Art Bursary - Cork City Council (2022/24)

• Shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (2022)

• Masterclass Teacher at the RHA (2022)

• Glucksman Gallery Painting Tutor (2023/24/25) 

• Tyrone Guthrie Residency (2025)

Reviews

“...... Gays are becoming bellwethers, early warning beacons, alerting us to humanity's direction of travel. We are easy scapegoats now in a world of rising fear, intolerance, nativism and tribal ferocity. But our community doesn’t live in a bubble, nothing human does, and I hope our straight friends can see that what happens to us is a warning to all. Stephen Doyle’s work here is part of a tragically necessary resistance movement and I am proud to support and endorse his vision.”

                                                                                        -      Stephen Fry in response to Degree Show Exhibition Beyond Dialogue

“I have been following with interest for the past few years the trajectory of this artist and watched with fascination and admiration at how they are changing the narrative around portraiture, trans-identity and its relationship to Irish painting.” 

• Aideen Barry, ARHA

‘’Stephen’s work caught the judge’s attention with its bold exploration of queer culture and how masculinity plays a part within this. Not only demonstrating significant skill with painting we feel the ideas behind the work are incredibly relevant to wider conversations around masculinity which are being had more prevalently now.’’

• Conrad Carvalho, Prize Director of Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize.

“He takes the contemporary concerns of his generation – and using the traditional medium of portraiture has brought it right up to date and made it relevant to all of us. Showing that these alternative views of masculinity are part of all of us and deeply important to consider.” 

• Sean Kissane, Curator of Exhibitions, IMMA in reaction to  ‘Alt Masc’

“I think his works is actually very clear of the theme, and has a significant expression when discussing contemporary art, which is to make the invisible visible and to make those voiceless to be heard. When we look at Stephen’s works, he is actually presenting the appearance of different people, but the most important thing is the stories behind each portrait. Those stories can be traced and studied in art history, just like the stories behind the aristocracy.”

• Dr. Jiang Jun, Shanghai Public Art Cooperation Center (PACC) and the International Public Art Association (IPA) and one of the founders of the Art Bureau of Investigation.

“Crawford Art Gallery is an active champion of the work of Stephen Doyle. He has a strong track record of commitment to ideas and forms of representation in his practice.”

• Mary McCarthy, Director of Crawford Art Gallery.

“Doyle has a compelling contemporary practice that invites understanding and awareness of queer identity. Although a recent graduate, his accomplished painting and highly professional approach means that he has already established himself among his peers as a distinctive voice in Irish Art.” 

• Fiona Kearney, Director of the Glucksman University College Cork

“Stephen Doyle’s ‘Attending Colaiste’ is a beautifully rendered, two-part self-portrait compositionally joined by a weighty interconnecting rope. Where one depicts adolescent males in school uniforms, the other shows flamboyant character in stilettos and fishnets, offering commentary on a lack of robust representation for queer, trans non-binary young people during a formative period in their lives.”

• Joanne Laws - Art Monthly September 2021 in response to ‘Queer As You Are’

“Stephen occupies a complex territory involving queer gender politics and experience – He is resolutely seeking ways to make paintings that embody those concerns through an expanded figurative painting/drawing practice. Using the language of figurative painting without dogma and overkill is no mean feat, and he is clearly navigating a path to do so.”

• Nick Miller, Aósdana