'LOOKING WEST' GRAINNE DOWLING
'FEATHER YOUR BED' DEIRDRE BURKE
PRESS RELEASE
Solas Gallery is proud to present two exceptional exhibitions running in tandem from 11th May to 2nd June 2018.
Grainne Dowling and Deirdre Burke.
Deirdre Burke was born in Dublin and graduated in 1990 with an honours degree in Fine art (Printmaking).
Deirdre has produced this exhibition as a direct response to the benign attitude we have towards our wildlife and habitats. The work takes a critical view of political issues surrounding the protection, or lack of, of our heritage.
Deirdre thinks of her work as an inventory, (of drawings, paintings, prints, clay and found and acquired objects), all of which through a consistent methodology come together to present a visual consistent dialogue.
Although she uses a variety of mediums and processes, through limited pallet and repetitive marks, what is constructed is a cohesive and readable story, one which will invite the viewer to hopefully react to and examine the subject.
Deirdre states that this work is not polite, but asserts that we don’t have time to be polite. Its intention is to make you uncomfortable. Juxtaposing materials, using matt black and distorting forms, the work sets out to trick the viewer and question what they are viewing.
Grainne H. Dowling. Originally from Sligo and now living in Kildare, Grainne started her career in the Sligo College of Art and Design and completed it at the Crawford College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, First Class Hons. in 2007.
She furthered her education at Ballyglen in Mayo.
Her subject matter is landscape, in particular the landscape of North Mayo and Sligo, where she was born, and the Curragh where she now lives.
In her work she wants to celebrate the subtlety and nuance of the natural world, to convey the emotion felt rather than representing a particular place. Using the recognised language of landscape such as horizon lines and boundaries, the paint is pulled across the canvas, scraped back, reworked, all the while being mindful of the shapes and edges created by accident, which speak to her of waves, clouds, rocks, light, shadow, colour and form.
She says that it is her hope that this sensitivity will strike a chord of recognition in those who view the work.
A review of Grainne’s work from a recent visit to Inisbofin asserts that “The overall impression conveyed to the viewer is of being held in a liminal space between the elements, between the abstract and the material; a sense of inhabiting this landscape that is gifted to us by the artist’s engagement with place and the medium she employs to represent it so powerfully.”
Brendan Dean, a local multimedia visual artist will officially launch the opening of the joint exhibitions on Friday 11th May at 7.30pm. Tantalizing refreshments and nibbles as always will be provided.
