"TROUBLES: Tensions Evident Beneath Surface of Northern Irish Images"
2001-09-13 until 2001-10-13
Plug In
Winnipeg, MB, CA Canada

The exhibition at Plug In showcases two emerging Irish artists, Susan Philipsz and Eoghan McTigue, in addition to large-scale works by Victor Sloan from the past ten years. For twenty years, senior artist Victor Sloan has documented public life in Northern Ireland with his unique photographic treatments. Victor Sloan is an artist of prodigious versatility and inventiveness.

As well as making 'straight' photographs of considerable poise, Sloan scores and scratches his negatives and reworks his prints with gouache or crayon. He is best known for his images (measuring between four and six feet wide) of the Orange Order and the marching season, as well as of public life in Portadown, County Armagh. Mixing intimacy with anonymity, the casual with the formal, Sloan’s artistry lies in his ability to bring to the very surface of the image the tensions underlying the apparent normality of life in Northern Ireland.

Philipsz will exhibit a sound work on vinyl, I Remember You, inspired by the James Joyce story The Dead, as well as a cd installation, Company. McTigue will produce public works while in residence at Plug In, utilizing the standard institutional notice board in a comment on painting and display called Empty Sign.

About the artists

Victor Sloan:
Born in Dungannon, County Tyrone in 1945. He lives and works in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. He studied painting at Belfast College of Art and was recently elected Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy. He has had solo shows in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Mexico and the USA, as well as throughout Ireland and the UK. His work is in many private and public collections including those of the Imperial War Museum, London, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the National Museum for Film, Photography and Television and the Museum of International Contemporary Art, Brazil.

Susan Philipsz:
Born in Glasgow, residing in Belfast, Philipsz has exhibited her haunting recordings throughout Europe, Australia and the United States, in venues as diverse as supermarkets, galleries and public transit. She holds an MFA from the University of Ulster, Belfast, was recently shortlisted for the prestigious Glen Dimplex Artists Award and is currently on a PS1 scholarship in New York City.

Eoghan McTigue:
Originally from Galway, residing in Belfast, McTigue is founder/coordinator of UK art projects such as last order(s), and Grassy Knoll Productions, which reexamine the display of public communications. He holds an MA in Art and Architecture from the Kent Institute of Art & Design, and was recently awarded the Arts Council of Northern Ireland/ CIRCA Bursary in Contemporary Art and Architectural Criticism.

Sloan/Philipsz/McTigue was organized by Wayne Baerwaldt and Valery Camarta. This exhibition has been sponsored by Pollard Banknote Limited, Canada.

PLUG IN gratefully acknowledges the support of The British Council, Manitoba Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council Bridges Program, The Canada Council for the Arts, Winnipeg Arts Advisory Council, W.H. and S.E. Loewen Foundation, The University of Manitoba School of Art and Architecture, The Winnipeg Foundation, Community Places, New Directions, Young Canada Works in Heritage Institutions, Manitoba Education and Training, Peter McConville, our corporate and individual donors, our volunteers, and our members.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Canada

Other Important Exhibitions in Winnipeg