Author Archives: debbiechapmanart

Art in Action, Farmleigh, Dublin, May 2012

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Latest piece! May 2012

Saturday 5th May 2012 was ‘D-Day’ for my new body of work. Having hidden away comfortably in my studios in Brisbane and Dublin, it was finally unleashed on the public on Saturday. I had been keeping a very low profile and only decided to exhibit the work when invited to exhibit at the show in Farmleigh.

No exaggeration, it was like turning myself inside out and placing myself on display for all the world to see! I don’t think that I have ever bared so much of myself in my work. The reception was fantastic! ‘Beautifully wretched’ was one of my favourite comments.

Francis Bacon – In Camera

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Amazing book, amazing man. I will never cease to be bowed to him. “With the aid of over 250 source images and documents, many hitherto unknown, this book reveals how photography, film, mass-media imagery and other sources informed Bacons painting and, in particular, how lens-based images, as he put it, helped to trigger the most significant turning-point in his stylistic development.” Get it here

Infinity Art Figurative Expo – Juror

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I have been asked to be a Juror for Infinity Online Art Gallery’s Figurative Expo. It’s quite a privilege. The standard has been very high so the job hasn’t been easy, but it has been hugely inspirational. The  works were judged on composition, concept, skill and emotion. I want to congratulate all who entered from all over the world.

To have a look go to here

Royal Hibernian Academy, RHA Drawing Marathon

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Just lately I attended a week long life drawing group at the RHA. I absolutely loved it. It reminded me that my great love always was and still is Life Drawing. Here are a few of the works completed there.

'RHA 12'

'RHA 15'

'RHA 14'

'RHA 11'

Will certainly be doing this again soon as possible and bugging all my friends to pose for me. As a result of the workshop I have decided to do a self portrait drawing everyday as a discipline and an experiment. Who knows what might come out of it!

Vertical Thoughts: Morton Feldman and the Visual Arts

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IMMA New Galleries 31-March – 27 June

Morton Feldman, my new love! Knew very little about this contemporary American composer before this exhibition. Feldman was closely associated with the progressive art of the New York School in the 1950′s and 1960′s. Works from these painters are on exhibition including Piet Mondrian (standing in front of his paintings, I felt like a child coming face to face with their favourite pop star I almost wept!), Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko and others.

On opening night we were treated to a percussive performance of his work in The Chapel. I found it absolutely intriguing. I have since found other pieces including piano pieces that I have been playing in the studio while I work. Creativity in sound.

I highly recommend the exhibition. Some of the most important works that you are likely to see in IMMA this year. Of course I may go to another exhibition next week and fall in love again!

Exhibitions to see

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Just thought that I would let you know about some of the shows I’ve been to lately.

1) Charles Harper – Drawings by Charles Harper
Exhibition in the United Artists Club opened by Ruairi Quinn TD
Thursday 18th February
Exhibition will run until March 9th 2010.  It was a real treat to see such a wonderful selection of Charles Harper’s work in such an historic and prestigious artists club. Definitely worth seeing..

2) Dorothy Cross and William McKeown - Exhibition “Pool”

THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY, 6-8 PM

Kerlin Gallery - www.kerlin.ie

Went to see this the same night as Charlie Harper. Very different exhibitions. The delicate watercolours on paper of McKeown were a response to Cross’s exploration of water in all it’s aspects. Particularly liked Cross’s suspended shark skin gilded inside with 21 carat gold!

3) Francis Alÿs: Le Temps du Sommeil

A sneak preview of the Francis Alÿs show which opened on 25th February. Limited to just 30 people, there was a glass of wine and a walk around the show with the Curator Catherine Lampert  on Wednesday 24th, the evening before the official opening.

East Ground Galleries, IMMA

Francis Alÿs (Belgian, but living in Mexico) is a compulsive wanderer: a close observer and occasional manipulator of the quirks of everyday life, he has been assembling a series of 100 tiny paintings (accompanied by instructions and postcards), visual ‘diaries’ of his interactions with locations all over the world. This series is being shown at IMMA before it travels to Tate Modern for an international retrospective of Alÿs’s work, and it is an honour to be able to show it in Dublin before it’s UK showing.

Loved this show and the chance to ask the curator all those questions that I normally have, having seen a contemporary show!