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Roscommon Arts Centre Presents seeing in black

By: Apr. 19, 2011

Roscommon Arts Centre is delighted to present seeing in black, an exhibition of new paintings and drawings by Orla Whelan. This body of work forms a circuitous investigation into the subject of the sperm whale. Referencing art historical and literary depictions of whales and whaling, and interweaving the motif of the whale with other subjects, this work investigates connections between images, representation and meaning.

seeing in black (2010) is a layered, textured and intensely mysterious painting of a sperm whale. We see a whale but not as we know it, oddly luminous amid the surrounding darkness interupted by vaguely shimmering rings. This large painting (140 x 170 cm) which took a year to begin acts as a point of entry for the show and forms the basis for the surrounding work which is at times, playful, dark and profound. The end of the world in 1602 -after Saenredam (2011) is a painting based on the ominous engraving by Jan Saenredam of a stranded sperm whale. Whelan's emptiying the image of its allegorical motifs, sees the ethereal liliputian figures curiously framed by the the whale's enormous body. The longest memory (2011), a new departure in Whelan's work, is a large vertical drawing loosely based on a reproduction of a painting of a whale hunt by Ambroise Louis Garneray from 1830. This drawing rendered in colouring pencil invests the frantic scene depicted with an air of dreamy detachment.

Whelan's work is generally concerned with subjectivity. Her process of working involves ruminating on ideas and images of particular interest, questioning their personal significance and aesthetic potential. She works intuitively, pursuing connections between the different subjects, simultaneously encouraging and underming the emerging visual links. One subject becomes a device with which to investigate another, images start to reoccur, are treated differently, their complexity is revealed and something new is created.

Orla Whelan has an MA in Visual Arts Practices from IADT, Dun Laoghaire (2007), an MA European Fine Art from Winchester School of Art, Barcelona (2001) and a BA Fine Art from NCAD (1997). Recent solo exhibitions include: At the Heart of Chance, Draíocht, (2008/09) and Outside at The Return, Goethe Institut (2007). Recent group exhibitions include: This must be the place, IMOCA (2009), There, Not There, Crawford Art Gallery (2008) and Trapezium, the LAB (2008). She is a member of the artists collective "Jeco Sword".

29th April - 3rd June
Opening Reception: Friday 29th April 5.30pm - 7.00pm
All Welcome


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