Biography

Blackshaw's painting are often figurative in form, but with a non-naturalistic palate which rebalances the composition in an expressionist,
even abstract, way. His themes are very Irish and often rural; greyhounds, Irish Travellers and the landscape. He has also produced portraits and has designed posters for Derry's Field Day Theatre Company.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland organised a major retrospective of his work in 1995, which travelled from Belfast to Dublin, Cork and many galleries in the U.S. In 2001 he received the Glen Dimplex award for a Sustained Contriubtion to the Visual Arts in Ireland is the distinguished Irish painter Basil Blackshaw.

The Ulster Museum held a major exhibition of his work in 2002.