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Dearcadh at The Paul Kane Gallery, Dublin 2008 |
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Artist’s Statement Looking, outlook, attitude, perspective are all translations of the resonant title of ‘Dearcadh’, an exhibition of new works at The Paul Kane Gallery. The paintings are from a continuing series of Heads which began some years ago in response to stories in the media about “Most Wanted” men. The first fractured Heads were a useful vehicle with which to explore issues of identity and ‘otherness’ but they gradually took on a more ambiguous character and various other ideas have emerged in the work - ideas relating to the media and spectacle, ideas about the human condition and about seeing and not seeing in contemporary life. The media presents us daily with a multiplicity of images which can have the effect of inuring us to the personal stories that lie behind each individual image. A personal tragedy, the loss of a loved one, for instance, is sensationally ‘splashed’ across the front pages one day but then is quickly forgotten when the next story is presented. Wars and atrocities give way to further wars and atrocities. The endless supply of stories and images begin to lose their meaning… By taking an image and using it as the subject of a painting, it emphasises the importance of that image, that personal story. It challenges the viewer to look again, while still allowing him or her to bring their own associations or perspectives to bear on it. |
