Con\verge is the culmination and meeting place of two bodies of work, from two separate exhibitions that took place in 2023; Not somewhere else but here exhibited in Wexford Arts Centre, and Convergences exhibited at Ballina Arts Centre. Here on the walls of Garter Lane Arts Centre, the works have come together to find a point of coalescence, merging as one to create an entirely new narrative.

“My work scans sources ranging from classical artworks to children’s drawing books, aural histories to local myths. Disobeying a linear art history while reclaiming it somehow in the present, I repurpose art history to play with its power, visually and conceptually, imbuing the anachronisms of the past with the attitudes of the present. My paintings are mashup-allegories, engendered with the frivolities and traumas of our time. But I am also in there; somewhere within the paint is an individual attitude trying to resolve itself amidst all these references, feelings and politics swirling on the canvas. I am an artist of a time with no time.

With this in mind, this exhibition is a space for further thinking and an opportunity to (re)consider how artworks can change within different contexts and environments, how they may sit next to one another, and what happens where they overlap, individually and collectively. Memories morph into tall tales. Invented imagery invites novel narratives. Transforming old to new, past to present, absence to presence, here to there. I like to paint quickly and think slowly.

Convergences was the title of my last exhibition, at Ballina Arts Centre, so I wanted to play with that a little and offer a new slant. Much of my work comes from a place that is loosely based on false childhood memory, which is something that becomes skewed and warped over time. There is a little trickery perhaps – ‘con’ alludes to this. \ is sometimes called a hack, escape, reverse solidus, and reversed virgule. I often look back at historical artworks as source imagery, some multiple times, which becomes a tool or device, and means that there is often repetition of imagery in the struggle to find what I’m looking for, perhaps finding a parallel in straining to find that memory that is just beyond reach. ‘Verge’ can be read as the edge, or perhaps the starting point of something new.

In our navigation of everyday life, we often look backwards in order to move forward. In doing so we lose the essence of the present and the potential that being here in the moment holds. With that in mind, Con\verge is about being here, now.”

Serena Caulfield is an artist who makes paintings. Memories morph into tall tales. Invented imagery invites novel narratives. Transforming old to new, past to present, absence to presence, here to there, she likes to paint quickly and think slowly.

Serena has exhibited regionally and nationally. Solo exhibitions include Not somewhere else but here at Wexford Arts Centre, (2023) Convergences at Ballina Arts Centre (2023) and Flexions at Luan Gallery, Athlone (2021). She is currently working towards a major solo exhibition at Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, in spring 2024.

Recent group shows include WIDE OPEN SPACE, at Wexford Co. Council Buildings, BEEP Painting Biennial, Wales, GENERATION2022: New Irish Painting, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Zurich Portrait Prize, at the National Gallery of Ireland and Crawford Art Gallery, 140th Annual Royal Ulster Academy Exhibition, Belfast, Crossings at King House, Boyle Arts Festival (2021), and MEET at Periphery Space, Gorey School of Art, (2021).

Previous awards include The Arts Council of Ireland Visual Arts Bursary, Platform 31 Artist Award, Artlinks Visual Arts Bursary and the Arts Council Agility Award. Serena has an MA in Fine Art from NUA, Norwich, UK (2009) and a BA from Gorey School of Art and Wexford Campus School of Art and Design, IT Carlow.

Her work is held in Wexford Co. Council collection, and in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.

To find out more visit: https://www.serenacaulfield.com IG:@serenacaulfieldvisualartist