LotusEater Plays at Roscommon Arts as Part of Aoibheann Greenan Exhibition Tonight

LotusEater are a four piece, trip/rock band who will perform at the Roscommon Arts Centre gallery tonight, August 17 at 7 p.m. as part of their ongoing collaboration with artist AoibheAnn Greenan. The bands performance will incorporate the costumes and props that have up until that point acted as sculptural assemblages in the gallery space. The band will activate the works within the space and will be the closing act for Greenan's solo exhibition in the gallery space.

The Greek myth that surrounds the lotus-eater infuses the exhibition with the same sense of entering an exotic set or that in-between space that is often associated with altered states of consciousness. Odysseus returning from the Trojan War tells of North African people who lived in a state of blissful forgetfulness, drugged by the fruit of the legendary lotus. Greenan deliberately attempts to illustrate the experience of disorientation and dislocation through her sculptural assemblages. The pieces reference her recent travels to India and Reykjavik, Iceland exploring the hybridization of cultures. Myths and symbols are reconfigured creating a pastiche of tropes that we recognize but which become unfamiliar and somewhat sinister in Greenan's reinterpretation. The element of kitsch through her use of b-movie references and counter cultural motifs remind us that on reflection each viewer brings their own cultural baggage to the interpretation of the pieces.

There is a harmony between symbol, legend and visual impact creating a visual lexicon that is both familiar and estranged. The sculptural constructions explore a biographical history, that is both self-reflexive and provide a broader means of critiquing the history of cultural accumulation that is pervasive throughout our society.

Mary Cremin, Curator

AoibheAnn Greenan graduated from NCAD in 2010 with a first class honours in fine art painting. Her solo shows include LotusEater, currently showing at Roscommon Arts Centre; Tahiti Syndrome, The Joinery, Dublin; Rodeo Oracle, The Lab, Dublin and Motels and Mineral Surfaces, The NAG, Dublin. Recent group shows include; Pallas Periodical Reviews, Pallas Projects, Dublin; For Persons Unknown, IMMA, Dublin; Tentamen, 13 North Great Georges Street, Circling the Square, Gracelands, Limerick; EVA International, Limerick; Around a Volta, Château de Servieres, Marseilles and The Cloud, Draiocht Arts Centre, Dublin. Greenan Has undertaken residencies at SIM in Reykjavik, SOMA in Mexico City and Château de Servieres in Marseilles.

Exhibition continues until August 30.