Curated by Dr Matthew Whyte, this group exhibition presents new figurative painting by Joseph Heffernan, Siobhán Collins, and Emmet Brickley. Each artist explores questions of identity, memory and fantasy – each anonymous protagonist exists in solitude, contextualised in place, albeit ambiguous, in a state of perpetual transition or a sense of impending finality, as if resisting contextualisation and wishing to exist instead in liminality. An apparent playfulness and staid domesticity gives way to an ominous sense of disruption and disconnectedness in these augmented fictions.
Joseph Heffernan holds a BA Honours in Fine Art from the Crawford College of Art and Design (2009) and Masters in Painting from NCAD (2016). He has exhibited widely in Ireland, including solo exhibitions in Backwater Artists Studios, Cork (2023); Ashford Gallery RHA, Dublin (2020) and Garter Lane Arts Centre (2018). His work examines fantasy and the ephemeral nature of memory and identity and how these things are intertwined to form augmented fictions. It can best be understood as a mapping of interior mental spaces as well as an attempt to reconcile the real exterior world with those spaces.
Siobhán Collins has an interdisciplinary background in fine art, English literature and critical theory. She has published articles on poetry, embodiment, perception, and aesthetics. Siobhán’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since 2019. Her painting explores founding myths, fairy tales and imagery that reflect the psychological and physical sensations experienced during transition from one state to another, such as between childhood and adulthood.
Emmet Brickley holds a BFA (Hons) from Crawford College of Art & Design (2016). He recently presented two solo exhibitions in Co.Cork, ‘Weird Fishes’ at the Gallery Asia, Clonakilty Arts Centre, and ‘Inland’ at the Blue House Gallery, Schull. He presented his first major solo exhibition in GOMA Waterford in 2021. His work has been acquired for public, private, and corporate collections, including The Glucksman Gallery Permanent Collection. In his oil paintings, Emmet Brickley intertwines figures and environments. The layering of colour and the abstraction of the environment are emphasised, holding equal importance to the anonymous protagonists. Despite the often calm appearance of his work, there’s a subtle and dynamic interplay of events beneath the surface.
exhibition images
