Opening reception 10^th Feb

An exhibition of original prints by Felim Egan and Ann Kavanagh, artists that share a minimal abstract sensibility, referencing landscape, through a perspective rooted in abstraction.      

Ann Kavanagh’s work is inspired by architectural elements, in her urban landscape. 

Whilst the works selected for this presentation by Felim Egan mostly reference the natural environment.  

Felim Egan described himself as immersed in a world of “soft squares and wobbly circles, plotted arbitrarily as the stars appear to be, working on a way to make these incongruous icons and fragments blend but never completely . . . in many ways, a reflection of the chaotic world we live in, trying to make a sense of it all through the language of painting”.

Ann Kavanagh shares the minimalist reflective approach of Felim Egan, with a tendency towards pared down refinement and stillness.   Their work distilling the most essential elements of their perspective.  For each, sporadic blocks and lines of colour punctuate their pictorial space.  All of the work presented here moves the viewer towards a sense of calmness and reflection. 

Felim Egan created a large body of work at Graphic Studio Dublin during his life, mainly working in carborundum and etching, working with master printers at the studio.  Ann Kavanagh works for the most part in woodblock printing as well as photography, she is a member of Graphic Studio Dublin and Blackchurch Print Studio. This is the first time the work of both artists has been shown together. 

Originally from Kilkenny, Ann Kavanagh lives and works in Dublin.  In 2003 she received a Graduate Award to the Graphic Studio and Blackchurch Print studios, Dublin, and graduated from IADT with an honour’s degree in Fine Art in 2004. Ann Kavanagh, has exhibited nationally and internationally, as well as participating in residencies at MI-LAB – Japan, Crown Point Press – San Francisco, Druckstella – Berlin and Cill Rialaig Arts Centre – Kerry.  In 2019 she was selected for Skills Transfer Program at the National Print Museum funded by Creative Ireland and presently facilitates Mokuhanga print workshops at the Museum.

Ann Kavanagh has said of her work ‘’it is inspired by architectural elements to create a visual interpretation of my urban surroundings. The aesthetics of manmade structural forms, fused with the ordinary, give a type of fragmented sensitivity.  In the pursuit of delicateness and refinement, the work presents a serene and solemn calm that is finished into carefully constructed prints.”

The printing process for her is a response to the materials themselves, drawing by erasing lines to create lines on woodblocks, editing until a composition begins to emerge. Each print develops in conjunction with one another slowly, precise, repetitive and with considered findings which adds to their formation. 

Felim Egan b.1952- 2020
Felim Egan, was one of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists. Egan exhibited widely across Europe with major exhibitions at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. He represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in France in 1981 and at the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil in 1985. He won the prestigious Unesco international prize for painting in Paris in its inaugural year of 1993.

Egan’s work hangs in numerous public collections, including the Ulster Museum in Belfast, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the National Gallery of Ireland, IMMA, the Arts Council of Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.