Michael Mulcahy - 'The Emperors Nightingale & other works'

Fenton Gallery

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Fenton Art Gallery: Michael Mulcahy - 6th - 22nd April 2006

Michael Mulcahy – 'The Emperors Nightingale & other works': 6th - 22nd April 2006

This group of new figurative paintings are wonderful examples of Michael Mulcahy’s expressive, vigorous art. They have the impact and rich colour, along with the charged energy and mystique, which have marked Mulcahy as one of the most interesting Irish artists of the past thirty years. This subject matter, (and these are recurrent images in his work), seems almost mythic or archetypical – dark male figures, sometimes accompanied by birds, against hotly coloured backgrounds. (Men from strange places bearing gifts?).

The symbolism of the bird as indicating peace, soul or the unconscious suggests an other worldness. This work displays Mulcahy's familiar use of primitive imagery - "an elemental, pagan atmosphere, of a wilder place hovering at the edges of the mind." (Gemma Tipton, Circa 93, Autumn 2000)

Born in Cork in 1952, Mulcahy was educated at the Crawford Municipal School of Art in Cork and the National College of Art & Design. Extensive travels in Africa, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Korea have strongly influenced his work, which often portrays indigenous peoples and natural environments. He has exhibited extensively and his work is in the collections of the Arts Council of Ireland, AIB, Gordon Lambert Collection at IMMA, Bank of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, Australian National Gallery, Canbera, Power Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Department of an Taoiseach, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Dublin City University, Smurfit Collection, European Investment Bank and Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

Gift Bearer Series No.6
Mixed media on canvas
80 x 100cm

SOLD

Fenton Gallery : Contemporary Irish Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland

Homepage | Available Irish Artwork | Publications - 'Representing Art in Ireland' | Previous Exhibitions | Contact Information