Almost five years ago NCAD graduate Amanda Doran’s Tattooed Lady graced the cover of the Autumn 2012 edition of Irish Arts Review. At the time, Gerry Walker said of her graduate show, ‘Like Kokoschka, her style of depiction is edgy and animated. Her figures exude feelings of psychic anxiety generated by a sense of otherness and alienation.’ In addition to Irish Arts Review spotting her potential Doran also caught the eye of Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4’s New Sensations Award shortlisted artists group show, London, where her work featured.
The theme of her first solo exhibition ‘The Divine Feminine’ resonates aptly with International Women’s Day and continues her exploration of identity and subculture style. In the work shown here The Bathers Doran takes a classical subject (nymphs bathing) depicted many times by artists such as Matisse and Cézanne and playfully subverts it by adorning the three figures with almost all-enveloping tattoos. Like the Expressionists the paint is thickly applied in swirls of impasto creating a sense of energy and vim.
The Divine Feminine: 8 March – 19 March
