There are no people in Irish artist Mairead O'hEocha’s
paintings but there is ample evidence of their existence, almost like an archeological
dig a 1000 years before its implementation.
With their eerie stillness her works are a calm before the
storm; Pompeii before Vesuvius’ anger but after the volcanologists advice to
evacuate. Whilst not Italian, the wall plaques say O’hEocha’s subjects are as
Irish as she is, there is an universality about her depictions of the suburban encroachment
on the rural vista.
The way we shape our environment into our own image, in the myriad
of ways that is perceived, is acutely observed. Using a somber palette of predominantly
blue, olive green and grey her painterly landscapes are unlikely to be used by
the Irish Tourist Board any time soon. Her paintings include all that they
leave out, the detritus of human habitation in a country on the verge of
bankruptcy.
Although O’hEocha’s latest works have seen the introduction of
colored highlights that tend to give her common place a hallucinatory feel.
These new works will be on show at Dublin’s Douglas
Hyde Gallery from the 12 of December to the 25th of February
next year.
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