Exhibition

These are examples of some work you are likely to see at my forthcoming solo exhibition. It will be at Guildford Lane Gallery, which is where I volunteer every Tuesday and Thursday. I don't have an exact date as of yet, but it should be in the next 2 months or so. I will keep you updated.

Synaesthetes

This is an abstract expressionist drawing I did for 'the Synaesthetes' which is a band/ art collective I'm involved in. I am looking into doing some projection work with old slide projectors and cellophane to show when the band is playing. We sounded pretty rad last time I was at rehearsal so we should be good to play soon, hopefully.

Cat head pattern

I drew a pattern of cat heads on the train home from a visit to the city, my sister Aoife and I were discussing sewing and and digital fabric printing. I really want to somehow print this pattern onto silk so Aoife can make dresses out of it.

In the Molkeskine

Digitized.

copy pasted in sequence.

Otherness

Fez and I tonight were talking about what threads tie all of my work together. We both decided that along with a sense of softness and balance, the major conceptual theme of all my work is transformation. We theorized that this relates to my conception of my self as an 'other', an 'other' to what we considered the complete norm: a white, middle-class, straight man. I am normal in terms of this criteria bar one thing, my sexuality. But I can 'play' at being normal in the eyes of 'the public' because being gay isn't something that necessarily shows itself. In this way I can use a sort of mask, to play normal, which can be quite entertaining and liberating, but at the same time I am always aware that I am not really in that mold.

Moleskine decoration and studies

Today I have been decorating my two small red moleskines, one is about to finish and so the most freshly purchased will take over its duties. My little red moleskines are for fine liner work.

inside-back cover

study of tone and pattern, I really love the gaze of these figures, I am trying to capture the same vacant yet powerful expression, I'm not quite there as you can see.

Owl, study in pattern.

collage and lungfish.

Collage and dot and line composition.

Studies of boy heads.

Study of boy head and patterned droplets.

2 boy head studies.

inside-front cover of old moleskine
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inside-front cover of new moleskine.

halos and cats' heads

More blue drawings, now with a hint of brown

Winter Forest

Here, presented for you, are some snippets of 2 large drawings I am working on. If you notice that they are similar to an other work of mine, good for you, because they are, aren't they.

Woman with braid amongst a small town

A golden row of trees and many moons which are out in day

Men who ride dogs to round up sheep who lay on the other side of a golden river

A boy who likes to sew tents.

Blue drawings

Some thought on method

Art is a way of understanding the world, of making sense of the peculiar condition which is to be human. For me art is a way of thinking, and I am very interested in how other people, particularly other artists do think. How certain actions, certain patterns and traditions conspire in a person to make them function differently to an other. Culture and symbols can be seen as a way of coping, a way of organizing complex and primitive emotional responses. In my art I create for myself a system of personal iconography, which I draw from my various influences but filter though by particular lenses. By people who know me I am often seen as being oblivious or whimsical, which can in turn often make me seem possibly a bit like a fool, a lovable fool, which is a role I am well aquiped to play, drawing on my Irish ancestry. Yet that obliviousness as perceived by others, is by me seen as more of an obsessive focus. I can have a very one track mind, never is my mind more one track though as when I'm drawing. I have often described drawing as like having a conversation with myself, I produce these images, and at first all I'm after is, foremost the act of drawing itself. Drawing to me is like meditation, after I am in this state, then all I'm after is an an expression of a feeling and often I'll have a general idea of what I'm doing with reference to previous work I've done. After that the symbols and patterns that I draw reveal to me the state of mind I'm in, how I feel about myself and what I'm interested in, and often why I'm interested in it, in this way I am communicating with myself.

Apart from shamelessly ranting about myself, I wanted to use this blog post to explain some visual ideas that I have in my mind, which I plan on working on.

* Milk-crates: lately I have been drawn to the intricate detailing and design of milk-crates, I plan on collecting them and sorting through them, just acquiring them on mass and then sorting though them, then cutting them and using them as frames for drawings, similar to how I use the tree motif in my previous work.

*Caves: I have traveled around a lot, lived in many different houses, something I do the first day I move into a new room is to decorate the walls, never the same, I try to show progression through change. Still though I consider my wall offering to be symbolic of the views I hold and the person that I am. I am interested in taking a series of photographs of other peoples 'caves', how I picture it is them sitting on their bed, with an instrument (musical or otherwise, I consider anything used to make something an instrument, so... books, knives, cellos, hammers) The bed symbolises a place of rest, and the instrument a place of activity and experimentation. On the wall behind the figures would be how they have decorated their space.

*sculpture: inspired by Kiki Smith and her representation of women as a representation, I wish to attempt sculpture, representing man as a representation of my self. This is a project I am just doing some sketches and mulling over, I will need to wait at least until next year to execute it because I don't have the facilities, but I might make models, or experiment with felt and cardboard. I really want to work in the medium of glass and porcelain though.

finally these are some works which are inspiring to me at the moment

drawing restraint 9 by Mathew Barny, a film which serves as a sculpture. I sat transfixed though this film the whole way though, the drama created with rhythm, repeated symbols and graceful slow movement is breath taking. What really shocks me is how shocking stillness can be, the amount of hatred this work of art inspired from people is insane. It seems that today, for a film director to repeat a sequence or to hold the camera on a scene for more than ten minutes is the up most degree of arrogance. Bombarding the viewer with eight different camera angles of the same fast paced car chase on the other hand...

Parts of a whole

House with smoke from chimney held as a cigarette by figure.

Close up of figure with cats head and unfinished jumper.

Smoke for a fire coming froma cats head.

eloborate mulberry bushes, loosely copied from a book of American Folk Art.

I bought a lovely book on American Folk Art, and a small tattered book on henri Rouseau recently, oh and a silver paint pen, and this is what they all created.

Arrow

right now my head feels like it is full of air, it floats but at the same time it sinks and is heavy and hard to keep aloft.

objects are metaphors for people

some close up parts of a drawing I am working on, it's called 'finding' and it's about how

objects are metaphors for people, how through symbolic connection, objects take on personality, and in reverse people become objects, which in turn have metaphors. My figures are not real people yet they carry connotation of something real, so in a way they symbolize an ideal human.

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