Lot 92: Gráinne Dowling - Folded Land

The painting 'Folded Land' has recently been featured in the book 'Small Things Like These' by author Claire Keegan to coincide with the release of the eponymous film. This work is based on landscape, in particular the rugged landscape of Connemara and its surroundings islands and mountains. I want to celebrate the subtlety and nuance, the sense of timelessness, strength and fragility and to convey this through intuitive abstraction, memory, emotion, mark making and movement of paint. Using the recognised language of landscape such as horizon lines and boundaries, the paint is scraped back, reworked, layered, all the while being mindful of the tones, shapes and edges created. These elements speak to me of waves, clouds, rocks, light, shadow, colour and form. My aim is to distill images, memories, and emotions, leaving just enough room for subjective interpretation.

600 x 300cm

Fine Art Print. Edition 5/5

The painting 'Folded Land' has recently been featured in the book 'Small Things Like These' by author Claire Keegan to coincide with the release of the eponymous film.

Grainne Dowling studied at the Crawford College of Art and Design, graduating in 2007 with a B.A. Hons in Fine Art. Born in North Mayo, Grainne currently lives on the edge of the Curragh Plains in County Kildare where she works from her home studio. The elemental Atlantic coastline of her childhood and the contrasting vast, uncultivated plains surrounding her current home both heavily influence her work. Throughout her time in the Crawford, Grainne studied ceramics and sculpture before ultimately developing a passion for working with paint as her preferred medium of expression. She went on to complete workshops with American artist Rebecca Crowell, a quietly inspirational person who encouraged her to continue her abstract exploration of texture and mood in the landscape. This quest to express something of a feeling of place and belonging is central to Grainne’s work and practice. Grainne has exhibited widely in Ireland, regularly showing at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Royal Ulster Academy and recently at the Ballinglen Museum of Art. Her work is currently shown at Gormley’s Dublin and Belfast galleries, the Hamilton Gallery Sligo, and is also held in private collections worldwide. Grainne has recently worked with the Copperhouse Print Studios to release a selection of limited edition prints.