ABOUT ME

I was born in 1952 in Lincoln, England, to Irish parents whose ancestries in Cork and Waterford span centuries.

At the age of 13, I won an award of excellence for my work from the Royal Drawing Society in England.

I studied Anatomy and Colour Theory at the Royal Academy in London, as well as having private instruction under the late Professor Carel Weight, R.A.., who became something of a mentor to me.

At the age of 19, I was the political cartoonist for the Financial Times. An original cartoon of mine from that time, of Edward Heath, hung in No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's residence, and is now in the collection of the late Sir Edward Heath's Museum, Arundells, in Salisbury, England.

At age 20, I had my first solo exhibition at the King's Gallery in London, opened by the British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who also lent Geary’s portrait of him to the show. Since the my first one-man show in 1972, I've had over 80 exhibitions of my works in Europe, as well as the U.S.

For over thirty years I've received international acclaim for my commissioned portraits, which have depicted such prominent subjects as Pope John Paul II, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Golda Meir, Sen. John McCain, Leonard Bernstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Placido Domingo, among many others.

Works of mine are included in the collections of several major museums, including the Primary Collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

In 2004, I stopped accepting regular portrait commissions to concentrate on his abstract and "face" paintings, which have been acquired by many major private collectors in Ireland, England, Europe, Japan and the US.

In 2007 my biography was included in the prestigious Allgemeines Künstlerlexicon, the German published Encyclopedia of Biographies of prominent artists in the world, both past and present.

My works have sold at Christie’s in London, Whyte’s Auctions in Dublin and Doyle, New York.

PHILOSOPHY

Accept everyone as a new friend, unless they prove otherwise. Accept people as they are, unless they are rude, indifferent, utterly obnoxious (to me personally, not necessarily to others), or we just share no interests at all. Tolerance and "do unto others" is the key to happiness in life and the world.

Interests

Art, going to Museums, Art Galleries, Bookstores; Classical music, especially baroque and chamber music; music from the 1920s,30s, 40s (Glenn Miller; Django Reinhardt, Frank Sinatra, Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday,etc.) French popular music (Piaf, Greco, Montand, etc), music of the 60s, (Beatles, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, Dionne Warwick, etc.) Old movies (Casablanca; Citizen Kane; The Maltese Falcon); Jazz (Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Ella, Earl Hines, Joe Pass, Django, etc.) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; Gene Kelly; Books on History, Art, Biography; PG. Wodehouse; George Orwell; Milan Kundera; Dickens; Trollope; Dan Brown and Elmore Leonard, etc. Walking in cities like Paris, San Francisco and New York.

• arts
• humanities
• books
• walking
• yachting
• movies
• drawing
• music
• classical music
• jazz
• sailing
• anatomy
• animation
• teaching
• history

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Having my first one-man exhibition at 20 opened by the prime minister of Great Britain.
Being at the National Portrait Gallery in London when my portrait of Jack Brymer was unveiled and shown at the gallery back in 1992, 20 years after my first one-man show.
Going to Paris and France for the first time.
Going to New York for the first time.
Going to music rehearsals of the LSO when I lived in London.
Meeting (and becoming friends with)Vladimir Ashkenazy, Oscar Peterson, Jorge Bolet, Joe Pass, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie.
Meeting and doing portraits of, Henry Kissinger, Placido Domingo, Princess Michael of Kent, Aram Khachaturian, James Galway, Joe Pass, Ella Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein, and many others.
Seeing Leonardo's cartoon "The Virgin and St. Anne" at the National Gallery in London for the first time.
Living for nine years in San Francisco.
Sailing on a yacht in San Francisco Bay.
Watching the sun go down in the West over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Living on the Ile St. Louis in Paris.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Ireland, United Kingdom, United States