Back To The Studio

Former keeper of the Royal Academy schools, Brendan Neiland, spoke out for the first time since resigning amid claims of financial irregularity - quitting his job in July 2004 after it was found he was holding 80,000 pounds of missing funds. He said he had kept the money in "good faith". Plans to strip him of his Royal Academy membership have so far failed. Professor Neiland, a renowned photorealist painter, also told the Guardian that his 6 years working for the Academy was "far too much time in the institution. An artist in the end is better off in the studio," he said. For the full story - click the title Irish Art