Tuberclerosies, a solo exhibition by Irish Cork-based artist Kevin Mooney, pulls on a wide range of references, from influences such as science fiction and horror films to histories of the Irish diaspora, to art history. The show consists of newly commissioned large-scale paintings, sculptures, hybrid painting/sculptural works, and works on paper. The work further explores Mooney’s interest in artmaking from multiple perspectives, with the different materials and processes functioning as several artistic voices. The varied languages of painting and sculpture can be read as created by different personas within a fictional community of artists.

One strand within this body of work is inspired by texts relating to the lives of Irish saints and the relationship between history and pre-Christian mythology in the early church. Depictions of fictional Irish art historical figures are another element of the work, using them as a lens to examine a “lost” history of Irish portraiture. Transformation and shape-shifting lie at the heart of the motifs in the paintings and sculptures and in the processes of making the work, with motifs sometimes unexpectedly changing form and other forms becoming obscured at various stages of the creation of the work. The materials in the work play with the notion of time, blending influences from folklore and mainstream European, African, and folk-art idioms to create painted and sculptural objects- hybrids both culturally and formally.

A programme of accompanying events will take place during the exhibition, including child-friendly tours, curator’s tours, a publication launch, drop-in craft workshops and school and third-level student tours. Full details will be announced after the opening. Information on the exhibition and upcoming events can be found at http://www.athloneartsandtourism.ie/luan-gallery/ and on Luan Gallery’s social channels.

The exhibition is supported by the Arts Council.

Kevin Mooney is an Irish artist based in Sample-studios, Cork.

Informed by mythology, history, and cultural migration, his work explores a speculative art history of the Irish diaspora. Recent exhibitions include Revenants, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2022, (solo), Mutators, MART Gallery, Dublin, 2022, (and also St Luke’s crypt, Cork 2022,) (solo), Pines Eye, Talbot Rice Gallery Edinburgh, 2020,  EVA International, Limerick, 2018, The Law Is a White Dog, Tulca Festival, Galway, 2020, The Erlish Tide, Excel Gallery, Tipperary, (solo), Fragments of San Borondon, Triskel Arts Centre, 2019, (Solo), Everything Is In Everything, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, 2019,Apparition, Sternview Gallery, 2018, (Solo), Seeing Things, Artbox Projects, Dublin, 2017,(Solo), Twilight Head Cult, Ormston House, Limerick, 2016, (Solo), What Is and What Might Be, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, 2015, Making Familiar, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, 2012, and Wave, Pallas Projects, 2014, (Solo).

Mooney graduated with an MFA from NCAD in 2012. Since then, he has received several Visual Arts Bursaries from the Arts Council. His work is held in various private and public collections in Ireland and abroad, including Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, the Arts Council of Ireland, the OPW, and Galway City Council. His solo exhibition, The Erlish Tide, the Excel Gallery, Tipperary, 2021, was supported by an Arts Council Commissions Award.

Sara Greavu is the Curator of Visual Arts at Project Arts Centre. She is the curator, with Project, of the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2024) with the artist Eimear Walshe, ROMANTIC IRELAND.