James Hanley previews new work from Claire Kerr at London’s Purdy Hicks Gallery that overturns the art world’s obsession with grand scale
Fixed to the wall in Claire Kerr’s studio is a spooky enlarged photo of a human eye, its glassy pupil staring fixedly into the room. Kerr says it’s a trick, a gimmick designed to make her work harder – a device to create the sensation while alone of being supervised. It is the one concession to chance, superstition or external agency in a practice and working environment that emphatically conveys control.
With an almost obsessive quality, Claire Kerr’s practice is controlled from inception to finish. From the carefully thought out images to the rationale of scaling each one up to the desired size, to then ordering bespoke gessoed panels to fit each image, to their hibernation while in progress, carefully wrapped in clean steel cabinet drawers, to the final tweaking and glazing before heading to the gallery walls, Kerr never lets her concentration on each task in hand lapse. The artistic angst here – for want of a better phrase – is not so much what to do, but rather please send enough hours in which to do it.
‘Culture is about sharing; Nationalism is about ownership.’ Hughie O’Donoghue encapsulates the chasm between the two concepts, in conversation with Brian McAvera
The study of fragments is second nature to Jason Ellis, writes Paula Murphy of the sculptor’s collection from last year.
As Irish Design 2015 is launched worldwide, we republish here Jennifer Goff’s assessment of the legacy of internationally acclaimed arch Modernist Eileen Gray