Statement

The dichotomy between my two working environments challenges and informs the art I produce.

The remote location of my studio on the Beara Peninsula and the removal of everyday distractions of city life allow me time for reflection and the space to explore ideas. The landscape of the remote Western Atlantic coast is wild and rugged, and is a constant source of inspiration.

My warming up exercises to prepare for work consist of reading, observing, walking, swimming, drawing and then imperceptibly I catch something out of the side of my eye, a shadow, a line, a stain, something hard to define which will be my starting point and allows me to begin to create a work.Once the work starts it happens instinctively, spontaneously, but I am aware that the concept is there and must be expressed, loved, nurtured and at some point resolved.

I like to experiment with different media and have produced work involving  print, film sound, plant and animal material and painting.

My recent work deals with the concepts of transformation, climate change, extinction and evolution where different worlds, animal, vegetable and elemental overlap and merge.

I also like to collaborate with people from different disciplines and am presently working on a project involving neuroscience and cenophore's brains.

 


The concept of metamorphosis and regeneration is a recurring theme in my work and this was the main concept in my exhibition ‘Butterfly Bull’ in 2008.

 

Walking in Circles: Richard Long

from top: The studio, Dereenacappera, Beara, Co.Cork
Below: Winter Landscape, Beara Peninsula.

 

Over the last two years I have been researching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and through the medium of print both silkscreen and photo intaglio I have been incorporating images of skeletal vertebrates onto my paintings. Although I use scientific material as my inspiration I approach the work from the instinctual position of the artist.