Paul Doran
dal 2/9/2009 al 2/10/2009
Segnalato da
2/9/2009
Paul Doran
Green on red gallery, Dublin
Solo show
The Green On Red Gallery is delighted to announce the much-anticipated
exhibition of new paintings by Paul Doran. The exhibition will consist of a
significant body of new paintings, mostly small in size, painted on linen on
board. The exhibition will run from September 3rd to October 3rd, 2009.
This will be the artist¹s first exhibition in the gallery in almost 3 years
and will mark a significant stage in the development of his practice as one
of the most engaging artists of his generation. His approach to painting has
been an intensive enquiry and examination of the role and relevance of
image-making today. His work is deeply analytical rather than about
positing solutions. Doran makes paintings that are as conceptually rich and
awkward as they are physically and visually remarkable. His starting point
is the history of painting and its legacy, today, as an artform in many ways
at odds with the age of digital media, an age of soundbites, slick effects
and quick fixes. Doran¹s painting has a moral charge and urgency that is
rare in today¹s world but never so necessary.
The probing and questioning in Paul¹s work is evident in the visual puzzles
and conundrums that we find in paintings like Untitled ( PD Ref 124 ) or
Untitled ( PD Ref 136 ). Vaguely mathematical figures take shape but are
immediately challenged by neighbouring marks and inchoate spaces which
appear much more instinctual and raw. Systems are fractured, discontinuous
even obscured. Lines actively draw the eye in a variety of routes around
and within the painted perimeter, never allowing easy pause and more than
likely to be inconclusive. Echoes of the analytical work of Paul Cezanne
and the early Cubists sound in these demanding paintings that create another
dimension, a different sense of time where there is a rewarding sense of
looking and receiving, simultaneously. No one puts it more eloquently than
the artist himself when describing some of the tension and energy in this
work.
The new paintings suggest figurative elements, without revealing specific
details. Stripes, blobs, smears, scratches and triangles all gather in
cluttered landscapes or polychromatic fields. Dark triangles are hidden
behind a muddy veil. Slab-like forms are mashed together or caught in a
moment of transition from figurative to abstract. Black dots dominate an out
of focus painterly background creating a sense of anxiety or disorientation.
Other paintings suggest a simplicity that is both surprising and
overwhelming
Since the artist's last exhibition in the gallery he has exhibited in The
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny ( solo ), Sunday L. E. S., New York ( solo ),
Western Exhibitions, Chicago and the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Show,
London, Nottingham and ?.
Preview: Thursday 3rd September 6-8 p.m.
Green on red gallery
26 Lombard Street - Dublin
Gallery hours are Tue-Fri 10-6; Sat 1-4 The Gallery is open Monday by appointment only.
Free admission