New Paintings & Works on Paper • Meet the Artist: Wednesday, 10 April 1 – 2pm

The Butler Gallery is delighted to present the first large-scale solo exhibition in Ireland by the Wicklow-based, Texas born artist Sam Reveles.

This exhibition will include new paintings and drawings that are imbued with great intricacy and detail. Throughout Reveles’ career, he has explored the expressive possibilities of line and space to create abstract compositions inspired by landscape, and ideas about infinity as seen in different aspects in nature.

Reveles’ studio is situated opposite one of the Blessington Lakes in Wicklow and is surrounded by stunning landscape and spectacular night skies. While Reveles is not a plein air painter, this body of work comes closest to him working outside observing all as he constantly moves in and out of his studio. These are not direct landscape paintings but instead are about how landscape mutates, how shapes take form, and how the artist remembers these shapes.

I am intrigued by the effect of time and distance on our vision and how we experience landscape. I am also fascinated by the dynamism of place that on a cursory view can appear static, but on deeper observation, can reveal an infinity of natural processes.[1]

The colour palette employed by Reveles in this body of work is informed by Wicklow, known as the Garden of Ireland, because of the variation of landscape. These vistas can fluctuate from sparse areas only inhabited by yellow gorse bushes and purple heather, to lush green forests and gardens, wild brown bogs, rolling mountains and deep dark lakes.

[1] From a conversation with the artist Sam Reveles

Sam Reveles, originally from El Paso Texas lives and works in County Wicklow. Reveles received his M.F.A. degree from Yale University. In 1995, Reveles’ paintings were included in the prestigious Whitney Biennial. More recently, Reveles has participated in several artist residency programs including UTD’s CentralTrak in Dallas and that of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland. Reveles’ work has been exhibited in exhibitions at the El Paso Museum of Art; the Saint Louis Art Museum; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; and the Hammer Art Museum in Los Angeles. The artist’s paintings are also included in the permanent museum collections of the Yale University Art Gallery, Dallas Museum of Art, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the El Paso Museum of Art, and the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City. The artist is represented by the Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, Texas.

With thanks to the Arts Council for essential annual funding and to the OPW, Department of Social Protection and Kilkenny Local Authorities for additional assistance.