Stony grey art of Co Clare

Eight years ago Limerick-born artist Deirdre Mahony returned to Ireland, having been based in London since 1979, and settled …

Eight years ago Limerick-born artist Deirdre Mahony returned to Ireland, having been based in London since 1979, and settled in Co Clare. There she began to explore the extraordinary landscape of the Burren, which has become the inspiration for her work since.

Her Erratics are huge, spectacular, banner-like paintings which take the shadows cast by erratics (boulders), often enormous, deposited in the landscape by melting ice sheets.

Now she has gone on to produce another series of works, the Wrap paintings (example above), which begin by wrapping canvas around boulders and working pigment or soil into their surfaces.

The Galway Arts Centre is currently showing an exhibition featuring this new work, and incorporating a retrosepctive of her activity since she returned to Ireland in 1992.

Aidan Dunne

Aidan Dunne

Aidan Dunne is visual arts critic and contributor to The Irish Times