“Trí” Exhibition
J. Cacciola Gallery
This event has ended.
Trí explores the differences and interconnections of 3 artists working in Ireland today. Tom Climent, Suzy O’Mullane and Marty Kelly are all highly respected figurative artists from Ireland. For the three artists their work emanates from the figure, whether they refer to the art historical markers or whether they use the figure to illustrate ideas, moods or concepts.
Marty Kelly’s work focuses on the endurance & strength of the human spirit of those living in regions of conflict, chaos and uncertainty. Lesser Spotted Birds of Paradise is Kelly’s personal response to the media coverage of the Middle East, having spent time travelling there in recent years. For Kelly, it is the innocent victim of conflict - the voiceless human face on the statistics of conflict - who merits our sole attention. He cuts through media hype, noise, distractions & he allows us access to the individual behind the story. Kelly’s portraits are purposely generic; they are devoid of cultural or racial markers. These loose, painterly portraits are graceful, tender and intimate; they convey the humanity of the individual, rather than the constructed labelling or of the vestiges of chaos. Kelly has a personal understanding of social conflict from his childhood proximity to sporadic eruptions while growing up in the northern part of Ireland.
Suzy O’ Mullane uses a language of painted or drawn figurative imagery, as well as text and symbols to convey a narrative of personal and emotional significance. Insomnia is a series of 23 drawings on paper which O’ Mullane executed during the summer of 2012 in her studio in the south of France. These identically sized works are defined by their strong, barely corrected mark-making and stripped back imagery. The series was made during the nights when the artist found herself unable to sleep and would instead go to the studio to work. The Insomnia drawings feature improbable configurations of human representation, as well as animals, objects, flowers and text. Her imagery has been described as a ‘secular iconography that appropriates signifiers from lived experience, folklore, mythology and architecture’. These are not prolonged works. They are not part of a planned series, but rather an urgent response to a disturbed nights mind. “I keep drawing until the dawn, until my heart calms, until I can sleep again. These works are probably conscious dreams, soothing the mind like a lullabye.”
Tom Climent produces paintings of figurative, urban and landscape subjects, sometimes referencing the history of painting in his works. His work tends to focus on the creation of a structured space, while investigating the boundaries between abstraction and representation. These investigations are performed using paint. As traces of memories and feelings accumulate and overlap on the canvas, construction and deconstruction become active tools in the creation of his paintings. His work reminds us of how our spatial ability becomes spatial knowledge as we navigate our world and with this knowledge we create a place for ourselves. One of his interests has been in how art addresses the body in space. A painting therefore could become a window connecting an inside with an outside. In his work devices of perspective and more abstract methods of reduction create a pictorial surface that allows our bodily world in.
Media
Schedule
from October 03, 2013 to November 02, 2013
Opening Reception on 2013-10-03 from 18:00 to 20:00