Really great shot film by Taller Stories and Toe Jam with titles by Gianni on the rich history of painted signs in Ireland from dealing with the cold weather and constantly making sure the spelling is right. Maser, James Early Kevin Freeney and Kevin Freeney Jr. give their insight into their work and influences. If you like this sort of thing you should also watch the ‘Up There’ a short about sign painters in New York.
‘Ground Under Repair’ is a photography study by architectural historian and photographer Brendan Grimes of abandoned golf courses in Ireland. A friend told me about this project during the weekend and was really interested in the subject. Golf club membership had become a status symbol during the boom in Ireland. With more and more courses being built to serve the demand and in a way mirroring the housing boom led to over supply. Post boom left many abandoned and financially troublesome course throughout the country, which unlike the ghost housing estates will eventually become consumed again by nature leaving little clues of their previous incarnation.
www.brendangrimes.org
Thought provoking minimal images from Roscommon born / Dublin based documentary photographer Martin Cregg. In 2010 Martin was one of the Irish nominations for the Prix Pictet. In 2011 his ‘Photo Course’ project was shortlisted for the FOAM Talent Call.
Have a look at Martin’s blog for some interesting thoughts on his work and ongoing projects such as ‘The Photo Course’ which documents “the subtle changes to the environment left by the transience of people. The ephemeral nature of the environment is evident throughout. Thus it speaks of ‘detachment’. In a sense it is also about subtle ‘destruction’ of the building – micro-events which happen in the duration of a day, a year which become part of the history of the photography course.”
Martin Cregg’s project ‘Midlands,’ is a three-year series examining the Irish Midlands, which looks at the urban/rural divide and is available to purchase as a book at the ‘Gallery of Photography Dublin’.
www.martincreggphotography.com
New work from Cork born – London based Artist Conor Harrington for his solo exhibition ‘Dead Meat’ at Lazarides Gallery, London. Full press release available here.
“Harrington’s choice of materials—oil on canvas paired with spray paint—highlights the establishment and its downfall, a consistent theme from his previous work. His scenes so carefully constructed and beautifully rendered, Harrington thinks nothing of brandishing a can of bitumen black spray paint and vandalizing his own careful creation. The dialogue between graffiti and traditional fine art, abstraction and realism form the backbone of his continuing output.”
Conor’s solo exhibition includes 8 large scale paintings and 24 small studies. ‘Dead Meat’ runs until the 2nd of April 2012. Watch the video below by Andrew Telling, ‘Black Herds of The Rain’ it is a film documenting Conor Harrington’s trip home to Ireland in the summer of 2011 to paint 3 walls. The journey and subsequent paintings are inspired by Austin Clarke’s poem The Lost Heifer. Conor Harrington will be taking part in Offset in Dublin this weekend, he’ll be presenting his work on Sunday at 4pm.
Skillfully understated paintings from Irish born Artist Kevin Cosgrove.
“Cosgrove sees himself as craftsman, or artisan, and accordingly his art is superbly constructed and carefully articulated. His relatively traditional upbringing in a mining community in the central heartlands of Ireland has instilled a strong sense of survival, craft and industry into his skilfully austere and muted canvases of under-populated workplaces: factories, workshops, industrial yards and offices..” artnews.org
Kevin Cosgrove is represented by Mother’s Tankstation in Dublin and is exhibiting his work along with Mairead O’hEocha and Ian Burns at the Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Santa Monica from the 19th to the 22nd of January 2012.
Some really nice work from French Born London based graphic designer and Illustrator Gaetan Billault.
“His work strives to create a natural bond between diverse disciplines, including illustration, graphic design, animation and crafts.”
Gaetan Billault’s work is currently on show at the FTLO exhibition at Gallery One Dublin.
Beautiful paintings from Polish Artist and Architect Daria Pietryka.
“She believes that art and architecture are inseparable elements, and that they permeates through each other. She perceives building as a functional sculpture, interior as an abstract composition.”
I was very impressed with her exhibition ‘The Peculiar Case of Ms Cloud’ in 2010 at the Mill Theatre Dundrum in Dublin.
Colourful hallucinogenic work from Irish Born Artist Hugh McCarthy. Hugh McCarthy has made a name for himself as a playful organic abstractionist, creating paintings of a dense and sociable kind.
“Colourful blobs radiate from every available space defying the laws of gravity, as hard edged shapes melt and droop animating the painting with constant movement.”
He has exhibited extensively in Ireland and Spain, and is the recipient of numerous awards including Kilkenny Council residency 2007, Culture Ireland overseas exhibition grant 2007, Residency studio, Arteleku San Sebastian, Spain 2003 & 2004. Ida Branson Memorial Bequest 2003, UK.
Amazing photographs from American Artist Jim Sanborn. These images were made using direct large format light projection.
“The projector, powered by a mobile generator, was moved from site to site. All of the pieces were photographed at night using long exposures. On moonless nights, the landscape was lit with searchlights. The landforms themselves are quite large, requiring the projector and camera to be, on average, 1/2 mile away from the subject landscape.”
The Photographs were taken in Utah, and Arizona in the USA and County Claire, and Cork in Ireland.
Otherworldly paintings from Donegal Artist Ann Quinn. Ann works from images taken while traveling. Her work evokes places visited, moments experienced and spaces imagined
“I have had moments when the sun has gone down, the sky is still blue, stars are starting to appear and I have felt completely in tune with the land around me, as if I were watching a story I know unfold before my eyes. My paintings are an attempt to capture these moments.”
Ann Quinn had a solo exhibition at the Cross Gallery in June this year entitled ‘She would argue a crow is white’, with work from her residency in the Pyrenees, Catalonia in November 2010, a residency at the Heinrich Boll Cottage in Achill Island in 2010 and the time of heavy snow at her childhood home in East Donegal, 2010.
surface & surface 