The Merrion Hotel announces Gavin Murphy as winner of The Merrion Plinth 2026 Contemporary Art Award
The Merrion hotel is delighted to announce Gavin Murphy, Glenageary, Dun Laoghaire, as the recipient of The Merrion Plinth 2026, the hotel’s prestigious biennial contemporary art award, recognising outstanding achievement in contemporary visual art.
Established in 2019, to champion living artists and provide a platform for contemporary practice, The Merrion Plinth reflects The Merrion hotel’s enduring commitment to Ireland’s artistic heritage while supporting today’s contemporary artists.
Gavin Murphy was selected by an esteemed judging panel including Lochlann Quinn, Chairman of The Merrion hotel, Patrick Murphy, Curator, Former Director of the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and Oonagh Young, Director of the Oonagh Young Gallery. In addition to receiving a €5,000 prize, Murphy’s winning work will be exhibited in a dedicated space within The Merrion hotel, where it will be displayed alongside one of Ireland’s most significant private collections of 19th and 20th century Irish and European art.
Murphy’s winning work, Porte fenêtre (Bright yellow, olive green, brown, grey, off-white) (2026), is part of an ongoing series exploring the social, cultural and technological history of glass as both a material and an architectural element. Created through collage and assemblage before being photographed in collaboration with artist and photographer Louis Haugh, the work layers blocks of colour behind patterned glass to create a compelling sense of visual and spatial ambiguity. Referencing the collage techniques of Cubist pioneers Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, Porte fenêtre challenges conventional perceptions of glass as a transparent, minimalist material. The series draws inspiration from Paul Scheerbart’s influential 1914 publication Glass Architecture, which imagined coloured glass as a transformative force capable of enriching everyday life and reshaping the built environment through beauty, light and colour.
Commenting on the award, Lochlann Quinn, Chairman of The Merrion Hotel, said:
“The Merrion Plinth was established to celebrate exceptional contemporary artists and to create meaningful opportunities for their work to be seen by a broad audience. Gavin Murphy’s winning submission impressed the judging panel with its originality, ambition and artistic excellence. We are delighted to present him with The Merrion Plinth 2026 and look forward to welcoming guests to experience his work in the hotel.”
On receiving the award, Gavin Murphy said:
“I am truly honoured to receive The Merrion Plinth 2026 prize. It is a privilege to exhibit at The Merrion Hotel, amongst the many important artworks by Irish artists in the hotel’s collection. I am humbled and grateful to the judges for selecting my work from a shortlist of such exemplary contemporary artists, and to The Merrion for their continued support of Irish art and culture.”
Renowned for its remarkable private art collection, The Merrion Hotel has long championed Irish visual arts. The Merrion Plinth continues this tradition by providing an important platform for contemporary artists while reinforcing the hotel’s reputation as one of Ireland’s foremost cultural destinations.
The Merrion Plinth 2026 entry is now closed, we would like to thank all those that entered.
The Merrion Plinth Shortlist for 2026
Gavin Murphy https://gavinmurphy.info/
Damien Flood https://www.damienflood.ie
Eilis O’Connell https://www.eilisoconnell.com/
Ursula Burke https://imma.ie/artists/ursula-burke
Open to all forms of contemporary art, we are inviting professional artists to enter this open submission competition. As dedicated supporters of late 19th and 20th century art, we aim to support living artists by sponsoring this prize honouring outstanding talent. Our aim is to provide a platform for artists to bring their work to new audiences and be seen alongside some of the great Irish artists of the last century. Our collection holds some significant artworks relevant to the history of Irish visual culture and our ambition is to promote the importance of visual art being made today.
The selected artwork will be exhibited in a dedicated area in The Merrion Hotel with a €5,000 prize. Open to all professional artists resident in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK.
Open to artists in all visual art forms that adhere to guidelines
