Three meath artists in going solo exhibition
The Going Solo Award Show 2014, an exhibition providing a professional platform for Meath arts students and graduates, opens in Solstice Arts Centre this week.
In March 2014, Meath County Council Arts Office invited applications from full-time third-level arts students, living in, or from Meath, to be part of an exhibition that marks exceptional students of fine art and design. Running since 2001, this annual award is commissioned and curated by Meath County Council Arts Office and also awards a bursary of €650.
This year’s Going Solo Award winners are Diarmuid Corkery, Navan; Kate Byrne, Ratoath and Kevin Ledwith from Ashbourne. Diarmuid Corkery is a recent graduate from NCAD, Dublin. His work is largely installation-based and is heavily influenced by film noir graphics which is typically reminiscent of comic-books with an emphasis on black and white colouring. In Going Solo, Diarmuid’s work explores the effect of UV light on various objects and mediums, specifically paper. Now living in Navan, Diarmuid has an exhibition of paintings in Iontas Arts Centre, Castleblaney, Co Monaghan in April 2015.
Artist Kate Byrne is also a graduate from Dublin’s NCAD (2013). Kate has always been fascinated by remnants of the past and exploring trails of memory. Her latest body of work is rooted in the places that carry memories and she has found inspiration in derelict buildings, abandoned homes and ghost towns that have revealed themselves during recent times. Kate explores the melancholy attached to these places. Working across a number of disciplines including painting, photography and writing, Kate’s style of painting is built upon layers of paint and fragmented imagery. Kate is delighted to be part of Going Solo and presents 'Invisible Cities’ as part of this three-person show.
Artist-portrait painter, Kevin Ledwith from Ashbourne adds another dimension to Going Solo 2014 as his focus is that of a subject’s inner most character through portraiture. An IADT graduate, Kevin’s work portrays the human being and explores the subject’s inner most character and thoughts. His aim is to encourage the audience to form their own views and opinions of the person staring back at them from the canvas. Kevin’s love for art and portraiture developed in school, when he attended Ashbourne Community School, where he studied art until his Leaving Certificate. Currently, Kevin is a full-time artist, renting and an artist studio in Dublin. Previous shows include the Emerging Artists Graduate Show in The Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely (2014) and The Drawing Project in Dun Laoghaire (2014).
Going Solo Award 2014 launches at Solstice Gallery, Solstice Arts Centre, Railway Street, Navan, on Thursday 18 December, at 7.30pm. This show runs until Friday 16 January 2015. Gallery opening hours are Monday to Saturday, 11am – 4pm.