Regional Focus County Limerick
Visual Artists' News Sheet | March – April 2018
Big City? Gerry Davis Painter and winner of the Hennessy Portrait Prize 2016
Self-Imposed Parameters Seán Guinan Artist and Director of Wickham Street Studios
I HAVE BEEN LIVING in Limerick since 2003,
when I moved from Athlone to attend Limerick School of Art and Design. Since its inception in 2009, I have based my painting practice in Wickham Street Studios, and I am also the studio’s director. In the couple of years after Wickham Street Studios opened, Limerick’s art scene really began to take off, with several artist-run galleries and studios being set up in the city, including Occupy Space, which was established by Wickham Street members. A lot of my peers from art college remained in Limerick after graduation, so it felt like a natural progression and a good place to establish my practice. Wickham Street Studios is very active at the moment and there’s a good buzz around the place. This provides a sense of pace and offers a source of feedback. I tend to do my best work at night when the studio is quieter. Economically, Limerick is a good city to live in, and studios are relatively affordable, however, it has become increasingly difficult for artists in recent years. Spiralling rents and living costs mean that many artists are having to seek out additional sources of income and there are now fewer workspaces available around the city, or galleries in which to exhibit. My practice has undergone a number of changes in recent years, and I am in the early stages of another transformation. Although still very intuitive, my painting process now requires more conscious choices. Shifts in perspective, colour gradients and symmetry, together with a flat use of paint, are among the characteristics that distinguish my current body of painting from previous work. The process is more protracted now, beginning with a drawing on wood,
followed by a slower application of oil paint throughout. Parameters are more pronounced, many of them self-imposed – something I find oddly liberating, even necessary. These parameters include scale, support, orientation, paint-handling and the use of recurrent motifs. Landscape is taken as a point of departure from which to implement a more representational approach, whilst making room for abstract, painterly games. There is a loose-knit, otherworldly narrative at play, with a variety of ambiguous elements merging to form surreal, dream like scenes. A line drawing is laid down without much deliberation and becomes a platform for the rest of the painting to evolve. Colour is initially dictated by instinct, but it becomes more challenging to resolve as the painting edges closer to completion. Over the past few years, my more gestural work has involved a multi-layered approach. It often used to take months, or even years, to resolve a finished piece. Layers of oil paint were applied thickly and took months to dry, making this methodology inconvenient in many respects. I find that my current approach is more practical. The paint is applied thinly, often in one layer, so it doesn’t require a lot of drying time. In addition, the small scale of the work makes it easier to prepare, transport and store. Furthermore, the reduced scale allows me the option of having a larger number of paintings in my visual field at any one time, which is more conducive to identifying relationships and patterns as they emerge. My studio space used to be quite chaotic, with paintings strewn everywhere, but I have since built a partition to create a storage area, meaning my working space is now more minimal and less cluttered. I feel this has positively impacted my work. Sometimes what one might perceive as practical restrictions upon the work, can turn out to be a blessing in disguise. At the moment, I am satisfied with my current methodologies and I am increasingly curious to see how my practice develops over the coming years.
seanguinan.com
Seán Guinan, Untitled (detail), 2017, oil on wood, 15 x 21 cm; image courtesy the artist
Gerry Davis, Studio Space 2 (Speaking Out), 2015, oil on canvas, 46 x 76 cm
IT’S NOW CLOSE TO nine years since I graduat-
ed from the Limerick School of Art and Design. If you could talk to 24-year-old me and tell him about the path my career as a painter was about to take, I would be both delighted and dismayed, depending on what was being considered. Dismayed perhaps with the failure (as of yet) to realise the unreasonable dreams: New York City opening nights, breaking records at Sothebys, invitations to biennales, effortless success and endless, hangover-free parties. But on the other hand, I would be proud of things that actually did happen: sticking with priorities, continuing to make work and – in this way – achieving a story that I would be happy to accept, both then and now. One of the things that would probably surprise 24-year-old me – and one of the things that helped me continue making work – was the fact that I’m still in the city I graduated from. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it’s necessary to move to an ‘art capital’ to make it as an artist these days. Often this can actually be detrimental, with the cost of living in large cities, the necessity of part-time work, and smaller or more expensive studios, all being obvious drawbacks. However, I don’t think that working in complete isolation from the art world would have been good for me either. It’s good to know what’s going on and the social aspect of an art scene can be important. In these ways, Limerick ended up being perfect. It had affordable studio space and a well-informed art community who function as the perfect microcosm for things going on internationally. When I graduated in 2009, the economic recession was in full swing, which made it difficult to make an income from selling work. But as is often the case, economic downturns can sometimes be beneficial to the arts. The ‘Creative Limerick’ initiative, which allowed artists to occupy empty shop units, led to a proliferation of artist-run galleries and studios around the city, such as Occupy Space, Ormston House, Faber
Studios and Raggle Taggle. As a result, many students continued living in Limerick after they graduated and this strengthened the art scene for years to come, despite many of these new spaces dwindling as the economy improved. In my case, I was lucky enough to become a member of Wickham Street Studios just as it began in April 2009. This was a good setup. I was able to continue working alongside my peers as I had done in college and it allowed me to forge connections with new graduates as the years went on. The studio’s group shows, and its connection to Occupy Space (which was also started by Wickham Street members), meant we all gained valuable experience exhibiting work, meeting curators and hosting studio visits. In 2015, the significance of my time in Wickham Street became more apparent, leading to my ‘Studio Space’ series of paintings, which depict the various nooks and crannies of the Wickham Street building and the variety of studio spaces within it. They were snapshots of a place that is always in transition and the subject matter felt endless. Around this time, I was also lucky enough to win the Hennessy Portrait Prize 2016, which helped my career even further. I felt that I had achieved something significant by making those paintings, and the temptation to continue with the series was strong. But after two years and two solo shows in Pallas Projects/ Studios, Dublin, and in Source Arts Centre, Thurles, my practice is going in new directions again and I’m reminding myself of the excitement that comes from a fresh start. As I move on to new projects, Wickham Street Studios and Limerick continue to provide the ideal environment from which to progress, whatever new forms the work might take.
gerrydavis.net
