Joyless Celebration and Purposeless Inquiry
Void Art School 2014
This years Void Art School exhibition is an eclectic mix of
media from a group of nine Artists from across the spectrum of
levels of education.
Gareth Sweeney is a GCSE student at St Columbs College whose
dark collages reference photomontage of Adrian Ghenie and the
later Photoshop paintings of Richard Hamilton.
Vincent Fahy is currently finishing his Foundation Course at
NWRC going onto study Photography at Belfast. Three images
taken during a recent London trip are exceptional pieces of
street photography paired with the drama of Caravaggio.
Zoe Harkin is currently studying at NWRC and takes a more
experimental approach to the photographic image, using
repeated images to mimic extended moments of time, in One
Second (kiss) as well as essentially beautiful portraits in
details.
Sarah Hampstead is GCSE year student; her combination of
paintings and photographs make for essentially small abject
narratives and take face painting into the realm of menace.
Joe Carlin has an established interest in the aesthetics of
fabric and fashion. Pillars draws on Classical use of folds in
fabric in the sculptures of Greece and Rome to the Appiani
family tomb used on the cover of Joy Divisions album Closer.
Religiosity extends to the arcane nails driven into the wall,
marking the peaks and troughs of a cardiac rhythm trace taken
on the Christian holy day- Good Friday.
“If you could see what I have seen with your eyes”- Roy Batty.
Don Murray is currently studying HND at NWRC, his two
paintings are a small part of his output at Void Art School
over the last year. They are crafted appropriations of Warhol
and a deliberate approximation to the infamous Myra painting
by Marcus Harvey. Their title is taken from the noir classic
of subjective doubt ‘BladeRunner’.
Darran McGlynn is a Fine Art graduate who’s recent show ‘Sees
The Day” in Void’s community space is echoed in his sculptureCastles Made of Sand. The piece neatly ties in with his rephotographs of 70’s images of packed holiday beaches.
The brick effect moulded sand castles ironically mimic Carl
Andre minimalist sculptures of the late sixties and early
seventies. As the title quotes Hendrix lyrics of the same
period in his song of universal disappointment.
Shauneen Colhoun will complete her HND at NWRC later this
year. Her two film pieces Five Shillings and Puppy Dog Tails
take time and location as subjects.
The inside outside of Puppy Dog tails reflects the
narcissistic character of types of Art world institutional
critiques. Five Shillings is a reflection on different
characteristics of time
and temporality.
Mathew McCartney is with Void on placement as a part of degree
in UK. His billboard size photograph Window Dresser is a part
of his work that has cast a critical eye on the Art and
Culture in Derry 2013.
The piece captures one of the window dressing elements of
short term urban regeneration namely fake windows and shop
fronts that masks the economic vacancy and dereliction in the
heart of the former UK
C.o.C.
Void Art School is a model autonomous Art School that
exists outside of curriculum based schooling and formal education. It provides a
supportive, exploratory and rigorous learning environment for young Artists.
Originally established to introduce A level students to Contemporary Art practice it
has developed its remit to include young Artists at both the secondary and tertiary
levels of education.
Assisting the passage from A level to foundation/ degree and from graduate to
postgraduate and in some cases the self taught Artist learning outside of the formal
education strand.
Practical projects are developed through one-to-one tutorials. Students are
encouraged to develop a more critical engagement with work observed and thus with
work they produce.
Generous support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland allows for the provision
of materials and equipment in the production of ambitious projects by the schools
young Artists.
In this respect the Art School is a unique learning site encouraging more critical and
creative engagement with contemporary art beyond curriculum-based teaching.
Void Art School prides itself in the professional development of young Artists at the
earliest of stage of their career as a lifelong learning journey. We continue to support
our uptake in their years attending Universities across Ireland and Britain and in the
years thereafter.
The exhibition of work is encouraged throughout, either in Voids Community Gallery
or in other partner organizations. Regular group exhibitions are also hosted within
Void Gallery’s exhibition programme.
For many the time spent at Void Art School matches and in some cases surpasses what is
delivered in the tertiary Art education sector and is instrumental in the decision to take Art as
an educational and career direction.