Artist of the Month: Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh

From Kevin Kavanagh Gallery website...

***images and writing © Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh & Catherine Leen, respectively***

Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh: Eatramh

Intervening time or space, interval or even lull in weather are all translations of the resonant title of Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh's second solo show, Eatramh. This title explicitly links her latest exhibition to her previous one, Deoraíocht, which featured a painting of the same name. Eatramh marks an important departure from the first show, however, which was based on the literary source of Pádraic Ó Conaire's Scothscéalta and its theme of exile. The importance of the space in between has expanded in Eatramh to become an exploration of the medium of painting itself.

For Ní Mhaonaigh, the desire to capture space, time, emotion and experience cannot be neatly captured on a canvas, with the result that her works are suggestive rather than representational. There is a suggestion throughout of flux and a strong sense that the journey towards an image, rather than the creation of a fixed, specific representation, is key. The works Stage I and Stage II capture the notion of an event about to take place through unpeopled spaces that seem precarious and delicate without their customary activity. Similarly, Platform conveys a sense of expectation and unrealised drama.

Despite the artist's refusal to take recourse to the creation of easily identifiable forms, the works do not reject the allure of painting. Ultimately, Ní Mhaonaigh's sensitivity and skill combine to create a unique style that blends the language of painting with the performative and the philosophical.

- by Catherine Leen

2006A catalogue with an essay by Catherine Leen has been published to accompany the exhibition. For further information please contact the gallery. Title: Sinéad Ní Mhaonaigh: EatramhISBN: 0-9552525-4-7