The State of Us
“The State of Us” Exhibition opens March 13th featuring work by Áine Doherty, Matthew Singleton, Laney Mannion, Lorna Murphy, Michelle Hoey and Marc Craddock.
Curated by Áine Doherty and Marc Craddock.
Áine Doherty
The Digital age, has brought with it an increasingly accelerated pace of life. Some inventions that were intended to make life easier, have instead, robbed us of our free time. Social media, has brought about a revolution in the way in which we disclose personal information about ourselves. Only some decades ago, diaries which harboured our inner thoughts, dreams and reflections on life were things to be cherished; kept secret. As ‘free time’ becomes ever more of a rarity, I wonder is there still space for children to wonder, plan and dream.
Using images from online selling site Facebook Market place as a starting point for painting, my current project our relationship with social media and highlights a lost sense of virtue in the digital age.
Matthew Singleton
With anxiety and depression, overthinking is like a crushing wave of hands pulling and pushing you down.
Your head gets pulled into such a negative frame of mind that refuses to see clearly. The hand that pushes your chest puts emotional strain on the one thing that lets you feel every second of self-doubt, causing a struggle to breath.
All the hands that grip, the hands, the legs, the thighs pull you down to have a lack of motivation to do anything about it, which makes you feel like you can’t get over it as you cannot pull yourself out.
Laney Mannion is a multidisciplinary artist based in Connemara.
Completing her Masters, in Social Practice and the Creative Environment in Limerick College of Art and Design in 2019.
Her creative practice considers both public and private narratives focusing predominantly on social injustice.
Research to date delves into sociolinguistics of contemporary political debates in the Irish landscape.
In her finished pieces she circumnavigates the weighted subject matter with absurdist humour. Considering the cosmic as consolation in order to deal with subjects too difficult to deal with head on.
Lorna Murphy is a Ceramic Sculptor and Alt photographer living in Galway City.
Lorna completed her Honours Degree in Fine Art at the Centre of Creative Arts and Media at GMIT, where she specialized in Ceramics.
Murphy’s work explores hybrids of Organic Forms and the Human Psyche. Often dealing with the themes of Ritual, Desire and Decay.
Since graduating her work “ The Heart of the Matter” has been included in the Gyeonngi International in South Korea.
Michelle Hoey is a Photographer and Printmaker from the Gaeltacht of Donegal.
Since graduating with her Bachelors in Contemporary Art in Galway, she now spends most of her time perfecting her latte art in a quaint coffee shop in the heart of the city.
She is inspired by issues that surround us in everyday life, such as homelessness and political issues.
Her work here delves into the problem of dereliction and homelessness in Ireland, with hundreds of houses, hotels and other buildings laying empty throughout our State.
Marc Craddock
Queer art has had a profound effect upon me after writing my thesis and I bring this element into my practice. This evolution series is a reflection my own evolution into becoming an artist that deals with queer sensibilities.
Inspired by some of my favourite artists, René Magritte and Gilbert and George, I also use my image as the study of my work. My art is an examination of the male figure with undertones of modern masculinity, sexuality and celebration of getting older.
The Theatre of the absurd is a way of seeing my work due to the use of fun, colour and celebrating life with humour.
