Engage Art Studios are thrilled to announce our exciting new solo exhibition
by TIM O’Neil .
PULP is curated by TADGH O’CUIRRIN and will launch on :
FRIDAY, APRIL 25th at 6pm
Engage Art Studios, Churchfields, Salthill.
The exhibition will run APRIL 25th- May 3rd, FRIDAYS and SATURDAYS, 12-5pm OR BY APPOINTMENT
Pulp is an exploration of paper collage. It takes illustrations from from mass produced novels from the 1970s and 80s, collected from the Readers Digest magazine. The images are reconfigured in an absurdist, playful way; to create new compositions and new narratives.
The technique of collage has had a profound impact on the artist’s imagination — from its beginnings with Picasso’s experiments in his Synthetic Cubist phase, to the Dada artists liberal use of the technique, to contemporary practitioners like Wangechi Mutu. It was the German Surrealist Max Ernst who created some of the most visually arresting examples, collected in a series of collage novels, such as A Week of Kindness (1934). Ernst is a major influence on O’Neil’s own adoption of the technique, and on this exhibition in general.
Collage offers the artist a way out of the conventional straight-jacket of ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, to create new visual possibilities out of the ordinary and everyday. The juxtaposition of random elements, from disparate sources offers us a new imaginative universe to play in. Humour and playfulness are important in these works. This approach can help us overcome our intellectual distance from artworks. Laughter can act as a kind of psychological relief valve. Playfulness can give us aesthetic freedom.
In these works the artist seeks to explore the ambiguity that exists between the original artist’s intention and his own alteration of the works. The addition of things like animal skins, minerals, a butterfly wing, are often chosen purely for aesthetic reasons, and even comedic effect, rather than any overt meaning or symbolism on my part. Despite this, it’s possible that many new interpretations may become available to us. In an era of mass digital media saturation, ethical issues around Artificial Intelligence and appropriation are coming to the fore. In the face of such concerns, the art of paper collage, and the use of old magazine illustrations can seem almost quaint by comparison. Or perhaps these older techniques and methods, something as humble as the scissors and glue, can offer us new creative possibilities, and protection from the all consuming AI machine.
Tim O’Neil is a Limerick Based artist who’s multidisciplinary practice spans collage, installation and drawing. His work is driven by an interest in found imagery and the aesthetics of mass produced illustration of the mid to late 20th century. His work explores the art of collecting, reassembling and reinterpreting popular visual culture. Through collage and installation he reflects on memory, materiality and the overlooked narratives embedded in ephemera. Recent projects have included The Limerick Show, Ormston House and Culture Night at Wickham Street Studios. His earlier collage installation at Ormston house was featured as part o Limerick City of Culture. other group exhibitions include Shrunken Head at the Niland Gallery and at the Bourne Vincent gallery.