Opening Reception Friday 16 September at 7:30pm

Samuel Walsh describes his practice as one that emerges “from endless dualities: drawing and painting, line and colour, art and audience, seeing and drawing and poetry and prose.” For this exhibition Walsh fills the Main Gallery at VISUAL with a spectacle of dualities. Meeting the challenge of this space, the artist has created a considered environment of canvases which play with a further polarity: intimacy and exposure. Emerging from this large scale installation of imagery individual paintings reassert themselves and beg to be explored, on inspection bright blocks of colour and dark line give way to landscapes and figures.

Walsh studied art at the Limerick School of Art , Philosophy at Mary Immaculate College of Education, Limerick and holds an MFA from the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. In 1997 he was elected a member of Aosdána, a body set up by the Irish Government through the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon to recognise outstanding contributions by individuals to the arts in Ireland. He is currently a Fellow of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo and has been selected for numerous international artists residencies.

This exhibition is complemented by a casebound catalogue with a text by Gemma Tipton.

The Coercion of Substance has been co-ordinated in association with Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda and Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny and will tour to these venues in 2012. This exhibition has been gratefully supported by Arts Council of Ireland Touring Grant.

Artist’s Talk

Samuel Walsh will give a public tour and discuss his work on Saturday 8th October at 3pm. Places on this tour are limited so please make a booking through the box office at 059 9172400

Preview 16th September 2010 @ 7.30pm

The Coercion of Substance will be opened by Hugh Murray, Chair of ev+a