Click image to enlarge.* Where we have shown images of artwork framed or within room sets these have been created using virtual software and are intended to provide an idea of the style of framing and/or the scale of the artwork in relation to furniture. They should not be viewed as completely accurate to scale and the colours may vary. We can send photographs of the artwork in its frame by request.
Title:
Synge Fragment
Artist:
Dave West
Date:
2022
Size:
H 15cm x W 20cm
Framed:
H 25cm (10in) x W 30cm (12in)
Medium:
Oil on Canvas
More Info:
Sometimes ideas percolate away for years and years before they come to fruition and that was the case with this painting. I had been thinking about the problem of including a thatched cottage in the exhibition: something that was essential to the whole story of the Irish island home but that also had the added challenge of having so much baggage attached to it and the unfortunate tendency of them to often look twee. On my visit to Inishmaan the middle of the three Aran islands the guesthouse I stayed in happened to be right next door to the writer J.M. Synge's house and museum and from my bedroom window on the first evening this view presented itself. Working quickly I managed to get this composition which balanced the old thatch with these complex geometric shapes that the sinking sun cast across the foreground and edges of the scene. I kept the colour palette to a few select colours so that the yellow straw wouldn't overpower and also to give the painting a softer, more authentic old-style atmosphere. Despite the speed of the final painting there was probably altogether more thought and time put into the concept of this work over any other in the show.
* Where we have shown images of artwork framed or within room sets these have been created using virtual software and are intended to provide an idea of the style of framing and/or the scale of the artwork in relation to furniture. They should not be viewed as completely accurate to scale and the colours may vary. We can send photographs of the artwork in its frame by request.
