www.communityvoice.ie - Art news from Dublin 15

The fox’s brush

In most cases, the career of an artist evolves in a series of logical progressions to reach a state where they can stand back and say “This is me.” From college, when they learn the rudiments of their art, through their early exploratory years to the consummate professional, the stages of their evolution can be clearly seen and charted.

Few, if any, have undergone such a radical change in subject and style as Castleknock’s own Cliona Fox, whose first solo exhibition opens in the Ashtown Centre in the Phoenix Park next month.

For the fourth year degree show at the National College of Art and Design in Dun Laoghaire, Cliona produced an amazing selection of large allegorical paintings of Venuses, loosely based on historical painting as exemplified by Lucas Cranach the elder. Like Cranach, the themes of sin, grace and judgment appeared regularly in Cliona’s paintings, which echoed the biblical proportions of their content by being up to seven feet in diameter!

However, a summer spent at the world famous Cill Rialaig Retreat in Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry appears to have altered her perspective considerably. The retreat cottages border the wild Atlantic seaboard in a restored, once abandoned, pre-famine village and it had a profound influence on her artistic output.

“In Cill Rialaig, there is a sense of space, of complete and utter isolation, which is reflected in the work, ” she told Community Voice. “This is a place on the very edge of Europe, far away from the bustle of city life. After five years of being almost ‘institutionalised’ in NCAD, the tranquility completely overwhelmed me. However this is not to say that I will not return to my earlier subject matter again at a later stage”

“The exhibition in the Phoenix Park will reflect this period of my life. It is very contemporary but the landscape features much more prominently than hitherto.”

Cliona’s graduation from NCAD last year was her second bite at the cherry. Originally from Cork, she was offered a position in Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design “years ago” but didn’t take up the position. Four years ago, having successfully completed a portfolio course in Colaiste Ide, Finglas, she was ready and was selected from the thousands of applicants to specialise in Fine Art and Painting at NCAD. Last summer, she graduated with an honours in her painting and distinction for her thesis entitled "Cut Flesh and the smell of Fleshy Paint".

She now works full-time as a painter and a mother. “I have a purpose built studio in my back garden and I try to stick to a 9.30 to 4pm regime,” she laughes. “When I am in there, I am incommunicado. I am immersed in my painting!”

Her work is in many private collections and includes sales to the OPW and Dept of Foreign Affairs and many corporate and private collections. She has also taken part in several exhibitions including, at Filmbase, Temple Bar, O.P.W., Cill Rialaig Gallery, Origin Gallery, Waterford Trust and the RDS annual show.

However, amazingly, this will be her first solo exhibition. “Yes, it was through my work being purchased by the OPW, that I was fortunate enough to land this exhibition in the Park,” she says. “I haven’t decided yet how many paintings will form this exhibition. I don’t want to make the space look too cluttered, so I will probably hang them first and see what kind of space I have.”

In true Dublin Bus fashion, you wait so long for one bus to come along and a second one appears almost immediately! Noelle Campbell-Sharp has asked Cliona to put on a solo exhibition at the prestigious Origin Gallery in Harcourt Street at the beginning of April. “It’s all very short notice,” she says, “but it’s such a fantastic opportunity.”

Things are certainly happening for the Castleknock artist!

Cliona Fox’s art exhibition runs for the entire month of March at the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre.

Admission is free.

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