Marc Reilly was born in Dublin in 1956. He studied at the National College of Art and Design and graduated with a Diploma in Painting. He was previously a member of the Visual Arts Centre, Dublin, with a residency in Temple Bar Galleries and Studios and held a one year studio residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. He is also a member of the Graphic Studio Dublin and has completed a Master’s Degree in Glass at the National College of Art & Design.

Apart from his many shows at The Paul Kane Gallery, Marc has also had solo shows at The Crescent Arts Centre Belfast, The Project Arts Centre and the Temple Bar Galleries. He has been involved in group shows at The Eagle Gallery, London, The Graphic Studio Gallery, Nordens Ljus in Stockholm and shows in Paris and Canada.

Marc Reilly’s work practice varies from loose watercolours to large expansive colourfield work on canvas, but they all originate from the same source which is Marc’s relationship with and observations of nature. He makes almost daily pilgrimages the whole year round to the Clara Laragh region of Wicklow, often driving there and back for the sake of one good hours painting. All the watercolours are done in situ, which can be seen in the different results achieved from painting the same scene and can occasionally be seen in a more physical way when, during particularly cold weather the watercolour freezes before it is absorbed by the paper, giving a craquelure effect.

All the work for Sometimes Horses will be watercolours, some featuring the said horses and others not, as explained in his artist’s statement. Some are in between as in ‘9-1-10′ image attached, where a bare outline of the horses is almost a whisper above the snow covered landscape to interim ones like 16-1-10 where the horse has a real corporeal presence to ones such as ’18-2-10’ and ‘8-1-10’ where the horses have abandoned the landscape.

All Marc’s work is titled using the date of execution.

Artist’s statement – Sometimes Horses

There are a number of interconnecting fields on the South facing side of the valley which, when the barbed wire and twine gates are down, join up to give access to quite an extensive area of hillside, which includes a mix of boggy and dry ground, old trees; Oak and Pine, scrub with Birch, Holly and Hazel, and the small birds that visit.

One evening a large fox passed close by, unaware or unconcerned, and two deer stood watching in the almost dark.

Assorted collections of horses and ponies has temporary and transient possetion of the fields, and have done so over the past twenty years or more, they appear without warning and dissapear suddenly.

No excuse is necessary to stand and watch but small challenges act as reason to view, incidentally, the passing day, the temporary presence of horses has acted as an ocasional reason to stand and watch and sometimes they are not there.

All the work is watercolour on paper and has been completed in situ, with weather and horses permitting.

Marc Reilly.

A fuller C.V. for Marc can be found on the gallery website, www.thepaulkanegallery.com.