Location
Preview Thursday 12th January 2012
12 January – 4 February 2012
Exhibiting Artists:
Lisa Flynn, Michele Horrigan, Elaine Reynolds, Jonathan Sammon.
Curated by Ruth Hogan
Sites,
places, locations: everyone has a place of origin, a locus from where
all things begin. Spaces where we interact, live and thrive. Yet what
role does this space play in determining a sense of self and how does
one negotiate a sense of identity in an unfamiliar environment?
The
phenomenon of 'psycho-geography' as defined by the Situationists has
been used to describe the practice of spatial engagement within natural
and urban landscapes. The environment as a reflection of the self, it's
influences on perception and how it comes to effect and characterise
emotional and mental states becomes the narrative for this exhibition.
'People
can see nothing around them that is not their own image; everything
speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape is animated.'
Guy Debord -
'On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a A Rather Brief Unity of Time',1959
This
exhibition strives to present different interpretations of
psycho-geographical engagement as an artistic practice, through the
works of four selected artists; Lisa Flynn, Michele Horrigan, Elaine
Reynolds and Jonathan Sammon.
Lisa Flynn
is a London based Irish artist whose practice specialises in video and
performance. A recent graduate from Central St. Martins, she has
exhibited in group shows at Galway Arts Centre (Ireland), Monstertruck
gallery (Dublin), Elevator gallery (London) and Vegas gallery (London).
She has also recently completed the 'Samkura' Artist Residency in
Tbilisi, Georgia in 2010. She will present three video works, 'Drawing
Breath' (2007), 'Hello Stranger' (2007) and 'Untitled Breath' (2007) as
part of a multi-channel installation. Her work is a mediation on the
body as a site; an analogy of isolated space. She uses aspects of her
own body within her films, using it as an instrument to explore the
surreal physicality of human anatomy. Influenced by the theatre and the
performing arts, she employs different devices to present a detached
view of the body as an abstract form.
Lisa Flynn, 'Drawing Breath', film still, 2007.
Michele Horrigan
has produced a new body of work especially for this exhibition.
'Purgatory' is a new film work and 'Dante's Rock Phase' is a series of
photographs based on the rock formations and landscape of the town of
Les Baux-de-Provence. The town's unusual geography was fabled to be the
inspiration for Dante's 'Purgatorio' from the epic poem 'The Divine
Comedy'. Horrigan explores the relationship between the poem and the
mountainous terrain of the town, through moving and still imagery. Her
research and practice is always site-specific, dealing with the
historical context of a location and reconciling it with it's
contemporary other. She
has had several international solo shows such as Heaven's Full Project,
London, Galway Arts Centre, Galway, Frankfurter Kunstverein,
Frankfurt-am-Main (2010) and SIM, Reykjavik (2009). She is also the founder
and curatorial director of Askeaton Contemporary Arts, a project, which
annually hosts a residency programme in County Limerick, called Welcome to the Neighbourhood, established in 2006.
Michele Horrigan, 'Dante's Rock Phase',photographic print, 2011.
Elaine Reynolds’
work takes form in the public sphere and responds to social phenomena
within specific contexts. Recent undertakings address the economy and
the architectures of cause and effect that occur within it. Existing
systems are identified, appropriated and perhaps set to a new purpose -
performative/live elements have evolved as significant mechanisms in
this process. History, economics, hearsay and folklore are amongst a
multitude of subjects that are referenced in her on-going enquiries.
'On/Off States' (2010) is a film work produced from a live performance,
that documents the empty shell of a house on a 'ghost estate'. Through
the artist's intervention, the shell is illuminated at intervals that
replicate the S.O.S pattern in morse code. She
is currently studying an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths University,
London, UK and has previously studied at the National College of Art
and Design, Dublin and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has
participated in residencies and exhibitions, both nationally and
internationally. Reynolds is a founding member of the artist led
initiative The Good Hatchery in Co. Offaly, Ireland.
Elaine Reynolds, 'On/Off States', film still, 2010.
The work of Jonathan Sammon
is an exploration into ideas of physical and emotional containment.
Sammon will present several drawings and a video work 'A Merry Peal of
Celebration' (2010). He develops narratives through drawing, video,
sculpture and sound, which often draw upon the language of Science
Fiction and Gothic literature to present states of emotional detachment,
physical decay and spiritual corruption.
He
has exhibited in group and solo shows, including 'A Route Obscure and
Lonely', Triskel Art Centre, Cork (2010) and 'Rusted Satellites Gather
and Sing' Camden Place, Cork (2010) and recently graduated from the
Masters in Visual Arts Practice at Dun Laoighre institute of Technology,
Dublin (2010).
Jonathan Sammon, 'A Merry Peal of Celebration', film still, 2010.
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