Saturday 16 January 2016

Description

The landscapes are based on drawings of Irish scenery by the artist George Petrie (1790 - 1866). Engravings of his work were used to illustrate guidebooks to Ireland published in the 1820’s when tourism first became a feature of Irish life and the Irish economy.

In this work there is a play between the illusion of drawing and landscape. Some of the drawings have been turned upside-down transforming them into reflections and suggested valleys. The blue light of the neon work opposite animates the wall painting. The intention of this work is to explore the area between modernism and representation, as aspects of art symbolic of Irish society, both forward looking and conservative at the same time.