With the work being so figurative I was really keen to avoid having exact spacing between each work. I had some of them grouped slightly more for this purpose and interaction rather than for any real narrative.
The Dunamaise is a great space, It;s an open white cube with a skylight that runs the length of the gallery and along with the natural light there are also spotlights too.
There is 2 new paintings in the exhibition since the work was on display at The Hyde Bridge Gallery in Sligo, they're the one just to the left of the door above and the one beside it. The piece beside the door is titled Upon the Lonely Rath and the one beside it is called Slouching. Slouching was originally intended for the Sligo exhibition but it wasn't ready.
Out of the 15 paintings 6 of the paintings were completed during my time on the MFA at The National College of Art and Design, the other 9 are all new. The 3 above were from the MFA and the one below is new and actually was installed while still wet. Upon the Lonely Rath is my first completed painting of 2016.
The build up was really good and the staff at The Dunamaise were great. All I had to do was get the work to the gallery. Michelle de Forge, who is the Centre Director, Nick who is Installation Technician, Laura is Box Office Manager and Lorraine is Head of PR took care of absolutely everything, installation, promotion, invites, they had everything cover and it was a complete pleasure to work with them, they were brilliant.
I was in yesterday just recording some footage of the show and Michelle asked would I be available during the week to talk with the students of Abbeyleix FEC so I went in today (February 10th) to talk about the work and what I've been up to since I finished Abbeyleix almost 10 years ago. I got to catch up with Jackie Carter who is head of the art department and was one of my tutors when I was in the PLC course. I also got to meet Sharon Murphy who is working with the students as part of their work experience and was running a workshop in the space on documenting artwork. I still find it a little bit terrifying talking in front of a group but I think it went fairly well and it was quite laid back.
I'll be updating my website soon with documentation of the new work and any other little adjustments that are needed. As far as studio work goes, I'm currently working on a commission and after that's completed I'll be starting a new body of work based on the same theme and in a similar style to what I'm doing but I'm hoping to push it on a little bit and also introduce new characters.
On the 20th of February I'll be one of 10 artists speaking at a symposium called Get a Real Job. The symposium is organised by Abbeyleix Further Education Centre Art Department in conjunction with The Dunamaise Arts Centre.
Beneath the Dock Leaf runs until the 27th of February.
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