Ireland as Muse: Emigrant artists to explore impact of place in new exhibit
Galway-based artists Darryl Vance and Fabiano Mulas will present a joint exhibition of recent works at The Courthouse Gallery in Kinvara, County Galway, from
July 4th–15th, 2019. The gallery, home to the Kinvara Area Visual Arts group, will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. An opening talk and reception with the artists will launch the show on Thursday July 4th at 8 p.m. All are welcome.
Reflecting the artists' moves to new surroundings – Mulas from his homeland in Sardinia, Vance from the San Francisco Bay Area – the exhibit, Two Places at Once, features a range of styles, from Mulas' natural and manmade landscapes, to Vance's boldly painted arrangements of color, surface and geometry. Their works embody themes of chaos and order, transition and home.
"Whatever I’ve done has always reflected the where and the when, but what has changed about this new work is the experience of being in two places: the place of memory and the place of reality," Vance said. "And there is the space in between. It’s a type of bardo that I seem to be painting my way through."
Mulas, a restaurant owner and chef, is converting a large outbuilding at the family's organic farm in Derrykeel into his art studio. "Coming to Ireland 14 years ago, building our restaurant, Basilico, I've gradually managed to build a nest, to give myself the freedom I need to create," he said. "The farm is my Irish studio. I can breathe there. I can explore all the ways nature works in one place. Then, when you travel, you come back and see different things."
Vance's palette reflects dramatic shifts in color and light from the sunny climes of Northern California to the cooler, softer hues of the west of Ireland. "I'm painting oil on cardboard, using boxes that once held all my belongings. When I got a studio in Ireland, I found myself looking at this pile of flattened boxes and pondering what the material meant to me, and what it might mean to anyone else in movement." Vance is also drawn to the idea of finding logic in apparent chaos. "I don’t knowingly create that logic, but over the course of making a painting, I find my own path through the forest. And since I’ve never thought of the artist as guide or shaman, I hope each viewer can make discoveries of their own."
The artists, who are friends, share a fine arts background: Mulas is a graduate of Kensington and Chelsea College of Art and Design who earned an honours degree in Painting from Central St. Martin's in London, and Vance earned a B.F.A. with honours from The Atlanta College of Art.
"I think for artists, it's about putting yourself into the canvas," Mulas said. "How can you impact those two dimensions? I'm rebuilding my life to what I want it to be. For me, it's art, food and nature in one place. And they're all linked. When I left art school in London and returned to Sardinia, I was drawn to painting derelict buildings. I was unhappy there, and it was only later that I realized these paintings were a reflection of my subconscious state. Now, I want to paint moss growing in tree trunks, study how nature fills in the gaps. Now, I'm painting life."
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