Man's interaction with the land and how these interactions are having a detrimental effect on both the landscape and our lives is the focus of two exhibitions opening at Galway Arts Centre next week.

'Ties' by Galway artist Paula Henihan examines the idea of personal origin as well as more universal concepts regarding nature and its cyclical condition. The work in this show is concerned with man's symbiotic connection with the earth. Mixed media drawings speak of our dependency on the land for sustenance and a range of prints and sculptural work relate man's binding physical connection with the earth. These ties with the land are told through a formally diverse collection of work, imprinting the links that invariably appear wherever human life takes root.

Dublin based artist Felicity Clear has previously exhibited in Galway as part of Tulca 2007. In her most recent work, Clear has been looking at different kinds of urban spaces. These new large scale drawings and paintings are ideas of alternative ways of looking at existing spaces or of dreaming up ways things might be or become. Many of the drawings are of apartment buildings where she is examining the slippage between what appears homely and what is definitely unhomely.

For the exhibition at GAC, Clear has been investigating the environs of Galway City, intrigued in particular by Salthill. Here, the glamorous styles of the new holiday apartments oscillate between yesterday and tomorrow. There is an inevitable recurring of the past reflected in a vision of the future, lending to the area a feeling that is at once optimistic, utopian and at the same time sad.

Both exhibitions open on Thursday 8 May at 6pm.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment