Dundalk artist launches exhibition in Íontas Arts Centre tomorrow evening

Artist Michael Stafford said he is delighted to be unveiling his latest body of work in the Íontas Arts centre in Castleblaney tomorrow eevening.

Michael's exhibition 'Talking it Back/Exile' will be launched in the Íontas Arts centre on Thursday, April 6th at 7.30pm with the show running for two months until May 30th.

The Dundalk artist, who graduated in Fine Art from Dún Laoighaire Art, Design and Technology and Sligo IT, said his latest work started to develop during the beginning of the lockdown through a series of new experiments working with and drawing on the experience obtained from completing an Abode Associate certificates in Photoshop and illustrator in 2020.

Michael explained that the title of his exhibition has a double meaning as “Taking it Back” deals with the process of how the work is built and 'Exile' is the theme which is somewhat biographical referring to the nature of living in exile from a social belonging.

Michael said: “The biographical elements appeared in the work subconsciously and once identified were pursued.

“My Family moved to Dundalk in the late 1970s from Belfast.

“Like many other families in Dundalk at the time, they were finding themselves exiled in a nation that they were affiliated with but had strong cultural and social differences.

“My work is not about highlighting the differences but it’s more about my memories, identity, and place. A question of where do I belong? “

Michael continued that it's an exhibition of paintings which has a strong visual conversation hiding behind its graphic graffiti-esque aesthetic.

“The images used, even though taken from my personal archive are symbolic and have universal meaning.

“The young boy holding a watering bucket, which features in some of my paintings, can have a multitude of meanings to different people.

“All the paintings have figures in them, with some being family members, taken from photographs that my ma used to love taking.

“But also people will identify with the symbolic characters in their own way that makes the art pieces personal to them.”

Michael said the work with its Pop sensibilities appeals to the contemporary eyes that is used to smart screens and clever Gifs.

“The viewer is asked to look beyond the plastic vector-like façade of the paintings; question the graphic commercial like product in an exhibition environment,” he continues.

“With cartoon like colours from enamel paint; repetition from screen printing, haze, blurs and dots from spray paint and detailing from oil paint the viewer may be overwhelmed by visual content as if they have entered the world of the surreal.”

Michael has had many solo and group exhibitions including in the Basement Gallery in An Táin, the Mill Arts centre in Dundrum, The Crow Gallery Temple Bar and The Niland Gallery, Sligo.

He is a member of AAEX which have done numerous community art projects including art in the Park, and the creation of the pink flamingo installation that was ercted at the Square during the lockdown and who most recently made an appearance in Dundalk's St Patrick's Day parade.

Michael is also a member of Creative Spark's print studio and was their Artist in Residence in 2017.
He was also awarded the Tyrone Gutherie Burary funded by Create Louth for an Artist in Residence in Annaghmakerrig.

'Talking it Back/Exile' runs in the Íonas Arts Centre from April 6th to May 30th.