Pastures Green & Dreaming for Dad
The Basement Gallery, Dundallk
November 8th - 30th, 1996

A double installation which explores and expresses the personal joys and sorrows which are a direct reaction to a change in environment (city to rural life) and the recent death of a parent.

With cows as central images, Pastures Green explores the animal form and effects of scale. In a "field" of paintings on household curtains the cows gain significance through their colossal size. The curtains themselves are redolent of the domestic nature of the cow, while the "magic" colour imbues them with a sense of playfulness. Through the complementary series of tiny paintings, the cows gain a graceful, treasured significance. The simplicity of their colour (b&w) and added gold leaf allows them to become personal and precious icons.

Dreaming for Dad uses the same pairing of elements (i.e., curtain & icon) in order to place death in its context as a natural progression of a life which continues beyond that which we know. A large curtain diptych of dream-like red & blue calla-lilies is complemented by the more austere, tiny diptych of white lilies surrounded by silver leaf. The two diptychs are meant as both a serious and joyful memorial to my father.

A critical review of the exhibition appeared in CIRCA 79 (Spring 1997) pp 49-50.

Pastures Green was later exhibited in the milking shed as part of "Sculpture in the Lower Yard", a group exhibition at Fernhill Gardens, Dublin in August 1997.

In March - April 2012, two of the cow curtains from Pastures Green were exhibited in a group exhibition, Telling Tales, at the Irish Centre, Shanghai, as part of the Irish Wave Festival 3.

In March - April 2013, Cow Curtain I was again shown in Shanghai in the group exhibition, ReMade, at the TuShanWan Museum as part of the Irish Wave Festival 4.

Click on the small images right to view larger images from this body of work.