Francis Bacon Studio

It seems like so long ago that I was in Dublin to see an exhibition at The Hugh Lane Gallery, but October wasn't exactly eons! I do like that gallery a lot, but for me it is a bit of a hike to get there, so I don't visit unless something really draws me to it. Regardless, any visit for a specific show always includes a gander at the permanent collection, which is fabulous. And a visit most certainly would be incomplete without peering at the Francis Bacon Studio in situ.

Since I have been busily cleaning up my own studio and having a good purge, I can only wonder how he did his work in the midst of such chaos. Personally, I need some order at the beginning of any new body of work - that period of time when I am tidying provides my brain with think-time.

Whatever Bacon's internal mindset was, however, he proved that he thrived on this exterior chaos. It is always a good reminder to me that every artist works differently and always with whatever they have.

Dublin and Shanghai!

After the Big Egg Hunt artists event last week, James and I walked up to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin in order to see the Francis Bacon Studio, which had been meticulously catalogued, taken apart in London and recreated in its chaotic entirety in the gallery in Dublin.  It is a fabulous exhibit, with accompanying interactive computer information as well as a room full of Bacon's research material and photos, so one really gets a sense of Bacon's working process.

On the way along the quays, I came across this bus signage which I though was totally surreal.

Last night the group exhibitions "ReMade" and "Gather" opened at the TuShanWan Art Museum in Shanghai. They are part of Irish Wave 4, an annual event of exhibitions from Irish based artists which take place in Beijing and Shanghai.  This is a photo of my work "Pastures Green" taken in the cow shed at Fernhill Gardens, Dublin in 1997.  The two cow curtains visible in the foreground are now being exhibited in Shanghai.