Shock and sadness following death of award-winning Tipperary artist John Keating

The sudden death of multi-award winning artist John Keating has prompted an outpouring of shock and sadness.

Mr Keating, who lived in Dalkey, Co Dublin and was originally from Clonmel, passed away last Thursday.

He had only recently returned from Assisi in central Italy’s Umbria region, where he had participated in an exhibition at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The exhibition, titled Fisiognomica Volti Corpi (Physiognomy Faces Bodies), was staged at the Palazzo dei Priori in the historic centre of Assisi and featured six artists.

Born in Tipperary Town and raised in Upper Gladstone Street in Clonmel, and the son of the late Pierce and Nora Keating, John Keating studied at Crawford College of Art, Cork; Trinity College, Dublin and Loughborough University in Leicestershire.

He attended the Arts Students League of New York as a Fulbright scholar and his work received international acclaim. He received many prestigious international awards from Ireland, Italy, the UK, China, Monaco and the United States. These included a Gold Medal of Honour at the Olympic Fine Art London in 2012. 

He had a particular affinity with Italy and participated in the 2020 First Premio Nazionale per Le Arti Visive (first edition) in Bologna, Italy, where he was awarded first prize in painting. His work was also presented in an exhibition in the House Museum of Dante in Florence in March 2022.

He exhibited with world-renowned artists including Lucien Freud, Giacomo Manzu, Rainer Fetting, Enzo Cucchi, KK Hodicke, Arnulf Rainer and Hermann Albert. 

Although based in Dublin since the late 1970s, he was very proud of his Tipperary roots and had the distinction of being a member of the first committee of the South Tipperary Art Group (STAG), which was founded in Clonmel more than 50 years ago.

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated this Wednesday at 10am in the Church of the Assumption, Dalkey followed by cremation in the Victorian Chapel, Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold’s Cross. 

John Keating is survived by his wife Miriam, daughters Rebecca and Ruth, their partners Matthew and Alex, his sisters Monica, Anne and Mary, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, extended family, neighbours and a wide circle of friends in Ireland and Italy, to whom sincere sympathy is extended.