Brian Teeling

{{orphan|date=December 2024}}

{{Short description|Irish visual artist}}

Brian Teeling is an Irish visual artist whose work often focuses on queer sexuality and LGBT+ history.{{Cite web |date=August 25, 2022 |title=Queer Irish artist Brian Teeling launches stunning new work exploring masculinity |url=https://gcn.ie/brian-teeling-launches-stunning-work-masculinity/ |website=Gay Community News}} He grew up in Coolock, where his father worked as a mechanic.{{Cite web |last=Lanigan |first=Michael |date=February 28, 2023 |title="It's Like I Am Amplifying My Love for the Shopping Centre into a Sense of Lust for It" |url=https://dublininquirer.com/2022/08/31/it-s-like-i-am-amplifying-my-love-for-the-shopping-centre-into-a-sense-of-lust-for-it/ |website=Dublin Inquirer}} Teeling worked in fashion before becoming a photographer and later a multidisciplinary artist. Teeling has been profiled by the Irish Times,{{Cite news |title=Should LGBTQ identity be proud to be mainstream? |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/should-lgbtq-identity-be-proud-to-be-mainstream-1.3538944 |newspaper=The Irish Times}} Irish Independent, Business Post, {{ill|Irish Tatler|qid=Q58036244|short=yes|italic=yes}},{{cite news|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20241130130946/https://www.businesspost.ie/life-arts/the-artists-studio-dorothy-cross-salvatore-of-lucan-and-alice-maher-on-the-space-that-shapes-thei/ |first=Nikki |last=Walsh |work=Irish Tatler |date=2023-01-23 |title=Dorothy Cross, Salvatore of Lucan and Alice Maher on the space that shapes their work |url=https://www.businesspost.ie/life-arts/the-artists-studio-dorothy-cross-salvatore-of-lucan-and-alice-maher-on-the-space-that-shapes-thei/ |archivedate=2024-11-30}} Dublin Inquirer, and Gay Community News.

After working with fashion retailers Topman, The Kooples, Brown Thomas and Indigo & Cloth, Teeling launched the menswear shop Nowhere with David Erixson (founder of Hyper Island) in Aungier Street, Dublin in 2015.{{Cite news |title=Nowhere: A bolder kind of menswear in Dublin |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/Fashion/nowhere-a-bolder-kind-of-menswear-in-dublin-1.2058019 |newspaper=The Irish Times}} In a review for The Irish Independent Sophie Donaldson declared that "the store has fearlessly injected the Irish menswear scene with individualism and oomph, garnering itself a loyal client base and becoming one of the country's foremost retail destinations for the boys."{{Cite web |date=March 30, 2016 |title=Names you should know, now: 6 Irish guys making waves in menswear |url=https://www.independent.ie/style/fashion/style-talk/names-you-should-know-now-6-irish-guys-making-waves-in-menswear/34538920.html |website=Irish Independent}} The Irish Time critic Deirdre McQuillan remarked "If Nowhere achieves anything it will be to encourage others to start creating more vitality on this historic street."

His piece Declan Flynn in Dublin was shortlisted for the 2021 Zurich Portrait Prize and was exhibited in the National Gallery of Ireland. Declan Flynn was an Irish gay man whose murder in a homophobic attack 1982 was a catalyst for the LGBT rights movement in the country. Teeling withdrew the piece in protest of the gallery awarding a contract to ooperate its café to Aramark, a company controversial for their profiting off prisons and direct provision. Teeling's work has also been exhibited in the Irish Museum of Modern Art.{{Cite web |title=Scenes from the age of anxiety: Artist Brian Teeling on vulnerability |url=https://www.businesspost.ie/more-life-arts/scenes-from-the-age-of-anxiety-artist-brian-teeling-on-vulnerability/ |website=Business Post}} Writing for RTÉ.ie, artist Aideen Barry called the acts of Teeling and fellow protesting artists "affirmative and progressive acts of protest by people who are putting their practices at considerable risk for the greater good".{{Cite web|url=https://www.rte.ie/culture/2022/0223/1282427-controversy-at-national-gallery-protest-as-a-historic-art-form/|title=Controversy at National Gallery – protest as a historic art form|date=February 23, 2022|via=RTÉ.ie}}

Teeling worked out of Dean Arts Studios on Chatham Row, and objected to threats to its closure, saying artists such as him could not afford rents elsewhere.{{Cite web|url=https://dublininquirer.com/2023/11/29/councillors-opt-to-ditch-idea-of-museum-and-keep-artists-studios-on-chatham-row/|title=Councillors opt to ditch idea of museum and keep artists studios on Chatham Row|first=Michael|last=Lanigan|date=November 29, 2023|website=Dublin Inquirer}} Speaking to The Irish Times Teeling stated "Someone described me recently as 'a successful artist in Ireland'. I'm poor. I can't survive in this city while being viewed as 'successful'... I'm probably going to be part of this wave of silent emigration."{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/2023/12/09/artists-in-dublin-the-lack-of-space-is-the-core-issue-were-all-fighting-for-the-same-thing/|title=Artists in Dublin: 'The lack of space is the core issue. We're all fighting for the same thing'|newspaper=The Irish Times}}

Following the 2023 death of Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, a Muslim and feminist, Teeling designed an "Irish Princess" t-shirt in her honour with sales benefitting the Muslim Sisters of Éire which he cited as "an organisation that echoes her generosity, spirit, and determination".{{Cite web |date=September 12, 2023 |title=Sinéad O'Connor inspired t-shirt to raise funds for Dublin homeless charity |url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/sinead-oconnor-inspired-t-shirt-to-raise-funds-for-dublin-homeless-charity/a1717993019.html |website=Irish Independent}}