Opening Reception Thursday 10 July at 6pm • Seán Guinan • Enzo Marra • Alison Pilkington

Seán Guinan

Seán Guinan was born in 1983 and graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design in 2007. Selected recent exhibitions include Meat Option, Luan Gallery, Athlone (2014); Cuckoo Clock, Pallas Projects, Dublin (2014); Act of Portrayal, Limerick City Gallery of Art (2013); Emerging Contemporary, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin (2013); Now Wakes the Sea, Kinsale Arts Festival, Cork (2013); I See a Viewfinder, Limerick City Gallery of Art (2012), Between Worlds, Galway Arts Festival (2012); The C:Inside Selection, Hunt Museum, Limerick (2011). The artist’s next solo exhibition is at Platform Arts, Belfast, in August 2014. Guinan is director of Wickham Street Studios, an artists’ studio complex in Limerick City centre and was one of the founding members of Occupy Space, a not-for-profit visual arts organisation, in Limerick. He is a recent recipient of the Limerick City Council Residential Artists’ Apartments Award.

Enzo Marra

Born in Bournemouth, UK, in 1975, Enzo Marra graduated from the University of Reading with a BA in Fine Art in 1999 and was awarded a MA in Fine Art from the University of Brighton in 2001. His recent work has been occupied with the art world itself, from the processes of the studio to the public presentation of the artworks. The tonal quality of work, his impastoed surfaces and trademark restricted palette have ensured his growing profile and importance in contemporary British painting. His work has been selected for many leading exhibitions and painting prizes in his native UK and internationally. Selected recent exhibitions include Paint Like You Mean It, interviewroom 11, Edinburgh, Scotland; Lubomirov-Easton, Art Athina, Athens, Greece (2014); (detail), H-Project Space, Bangkok, Thailand (2014); ArtWorks Open, Barbican Arts Group, London, UK (2014); Charlie Dutton Crash Open 2013, London, UK; Painting Now, LAN ART, London, UK (2013); Diamond Geezer, WW Gallery, London, UK (2012); Afternoon Tea, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2011); Demigods, WW Gallery, London (2011); Burning, Hackney Empire, London, UK (2009); Fish Factory, Worthing, UK (2009); Eaton Terrace Gallery, London, UK (2008); American Sandwich, Primo Piano LivinGallery, Italy (2008); Euphemism, The Others, London, UK (2008); Worthing Museum Centenary Open, UK (2008); Friends and Fables, Artspace Galleries, London, UK (2008); Dress Code, Primo Piano LivinGallery, Italy (2008).

Alison Pilkington

“The uncanny, which is associated with a feeling of disorientation, mild panic or confusion when faced with something strangely familiar has been a frequent subject of the visual arts and literature. Strangely familiar yet comic images have the potential to disturb or disorientate the viewer. I attempt to explore this aspect of the uncanny and invite the viewer to consider how this feeling occurs. I play with how imagery interacts with the intrinsic qualities of paint, with how the paint material moves and can be manipulated. The paintings are carefully planned through several stages of drawing. The quality of paint handling, although seemingly casual, is a result of repeated attempts at getting something ‘right’.”

Born in Sligo in 1967, Alison Pilkington graduated from Dublin’s National College of Art & Design (NCAD) in 1990 with a BA Hons in Fine Art (Painting) and was awarded an MA in Film and TV studies from Dublin City University in 1994; she is currently completing a practice-led PhD in Painting at NCAD. Pilkington has exhibited extensively in Ireland and internationally and has been recipient of numerous awards including a British Institution award for painting at the Royal Academy Summer Show, London (2012) and 3rd place at the ArtSlant Prize 2013 international award for emerging artists. Recent one-person exhibitions include Malevolentos, Pallas Projects, Dublin (2014); Between One Thing and Another, Custom House Studios, Westport, Mayo (2010); Doppelgänger, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin (2007); Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick (2006); Guided By Stars, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin (2006); New Work, The Workroom, Dominick Street, Dublin (2004).