Claudine O’Sullivan is an Irish visual artist based in Glasgow. Her practice develops embodied spatial research through endurance movement. Running functions as fieldwork: routes are experienced physically and translated into layered abstraction across painting and drawing. Through repetition, rhythm and material negotiation, the work examines the relationship between body and place.

Following more than a decade of professional practice in commercial illustration, she returned to a studio-led approach grounded in material enquiry and process. This shift marked a move away from precision-led production toward embodied decision-making and spatial investigation.

Her work has been exhibited internationally and recognised through awards and residencies. She is a World Illustration Award winner and has undertaken projects with clients including Apple, BBC, Jameson, The Guardian, the Royal College of Art and the National Trust.

Artist Statement / Studio Practice
Endurance running structures my studio practice, functioning as both research and method. Each body of work begins post-run, where rhythm, terrain and lived spatial experience are translated into layered abstraction across painting and drawing.

The work resists static depiction. Routes and fragments of landscape recur as structural forms, shaped by pace, repetition and embodied movement through place. Motion remains present in the making itself: surfaces are developed across multiple sessions, built, revised and reworked to sustain compositional momentum.

Process is physical and direct. Materials are negotiated rather than imposed; marks carry varying speed and weight; control is balanced with responsiveness. Following a run, heightened attention sharpens decision-making, allowing the work to resolve through accumulated rhythm rather than predetermined outcome.

Awards (selected):
World Illustration Awards — Winner (2017)
World Illustration Awards — Shortlisted (2018)
Ashurst Art Prize — Winner (2017)
Irish Design Awards — Highly Commended (2017)

Residencies:
Cove Park Artist Residency, Scotland (2026)
Grampus EU Artist Residencies — Cyprus, Norway, Slovakia (2015–2017)

Education:
BA Graphic & Media Design, University of the Arts London — First Class Honours
Foundation Diploma, London College of Fashion
BA Communications (partial), Dublin City University

Selected Exhibitions:
Blood Milk & Tears — Solo Exhibition, London (2024)
One in Four Irish Annual Auction — Dublin (2024–2025)
Art on a Postcard Invitational — London (2018–2022)
Art for Survival Invitational — London (2020–2022)
World Illustration Awards Exhibition — London (2017–2018)
Leaves — Solo Exhibition, London (2017)
Women’s World Cup Billboard Exhibition — Piccadilly Circus, London (2019)
La Marzocco Out of the Box — Milan (2013)
WeTransfer Presents — Exhibition, Amsterdam (2014)
Saamna Karna — Solo Exhibition, London (2013)