Press Releases - Art Upstairs

Current Exhibition

Press Releases - Art Upstairs

Michael McGuire

"Land and Sea" - an exhibition of paintings by Michael McGuire
15th to 31st October, 2010, at Art Upstairs Gallery at 89 North Main St., Wexford
Official opening on Thursday 14th October at 8.00pm

“Land and Sea” is Michael McGuire’s second solo exhibition and demonstrates his increasing devotion to working on location. With the exception of a few larger studio paintings, the entire collection, comprising over thirty paintings, has been painted on location or “en plein air“. The ever-changing Irish climate makes this difficult, but Michael is convinced that for any landscape artist trying to convey a sense of “visual reality”, there is no other way. The resulting paintings are imbued with a very strong sense of realistic light and atmosphere, and immediately connect with viewers who love the Irish landscape. While the selection of images in this brochure can be viewed simply as very good representational work, closer study of the paintings reveals more complexity, particularly in the variation of textures and edges. In many of the paintings, there is a unique delicacy of handling, particularly in the subtle backgrounds and less stated passages. This is where the “mark” of the artist shines through, reflecting his love and appreciation for these special wild and unspoilt places.

Michael was born in Sneem, Co Kerry in 1956, but has lived in Wexford since 1999. While painting from an early age and enjoying considerable commercial success in the 1980s and 1990s, Michael has only been painting full-time since 2006. Since then he has exhibited in Greenacres (Wexford) and the Oisin Gallery (Dublin), but is mainly represented by Art Upstairs Gallery (Wexford and Rosslare), with which he had his first solo show in May 2009. He is a member of the steering committee of Art in the Open, Wexford’s annual plein air festival. He was honoured to have been invited to paint in France in 2010 with the prestigious Wapping Group, one of the UK’s oldest plein air societies, and the experience has raised his work to an even higher level as evidenced in the “Land and Sea” exhibition.

Thomas Wollen

Art Upstairs presents a new collection of raku fired ceramics by Thomas Wollen for the Opera Festival from 15th to 31st October. Thomas' highly distinctive and colourful works are always very popular with visitors to Art Upstairs and his new collection should win over even more collectors.

Thomas Wollen set up business and has been successfully making ceramic art from his renovated ‘cow-shed’ studio, in the Slieve Felim hills of east Limerick near Doon, since 1998. More recently Thomas works at the Black Studio and Gallery in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary.

With no formal ceramic art and design training Thomas has now developed his own distinctive style of carving and decorating the surface of the clay. Together with his fascination and expertise in the raku firing process unique and individual pieces of work are created for both the art and craft market.

Thomas says ‘My work has progressed towards the collector and gallery market where ideas are explored and then developed into a series of work.

The inspirations for my recent work have been based on contemporary political events as well as my personal experiences. However, the local environment and my childhood experiences living in Africa will always influence the work that I produce.’

‘My aspirations are generally simple ones: to create beautiful work that stimulates debate as well as give enjoyment. If I see someone stopping to touch one of my pieces then I feel I have succeeded.’

Thomas Wollen's work is highly distinctive and includes his wading birds, his shapely, brightly coloured fish, his cuboids and tubes, his Tall Thin Noisy People and his bird and fish tiles and bowls. Strongly influenced by African images and rich in colour and metallic finishes, Thomas' work immediately captures visitors imagination and his works stay long in the memory. Thomas Wollen is a regular exhibitor in Wexford at shows in Art Upstairs and in the Rosslare Gallery.

Back to dealer/gallery profile