Michael Coleman

Temple Bar Paintings is the first solo exhibition of new paintings by Michael Coleman in four years. He is one of Ireland’s foremost colour field abstract painters and his work is represented in most of Ireland’s major public and private collections including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Arts Council, Bank of Ireland, P.J. Carroll & Company, the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art and the Office of Public Works.

Coleman’s work is best recognised by his textured monochrome canvasses where the formal appearance rarely conceals their strong environmental influences. Basic elements of scale, texture, colour and tone make up the surprisingly descriptive language in his approach.

Temple Bar Paintings includes a series of monochrome paintings, some of which are superimposed with frenzied angular markings in an arbitrary colour range. Other works represent his classic style, in particular a spectacular and dominating eight foot by six foot black canvas, with a rich textured surface deep with possibility – as vast as the universe and as dark as a field of grass on an Irish winter’s night. A second smaller butter-cream work (twelve inches by sixteen inches) provides a stark contrast, further demonstrating the range of expression found in Coleman’s work.

Michael Coleman was born in Dublin in 1951. Coleman established his standing as a leading exponent of colour field painting in Ireland in the late 1970’s. During the period from 1977 to 1991, Coleman was a regular exhibitor at the (now closed) Oliver Dowling Gallery, whilst also participating in many landmark exhibitions such as A Sense of Ireland, London 1989, Irish Art of the Eighties at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, 1991 and Shifting Ground – 50 Years of Irish Art at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2001.

Also at Draíocht, in the First Floor Gallery, is an exhibition featuring some of the artwork produced by the 350 Primary School children involved in the Mosaic Project. The exhibition features remarkably varied and colourful creations including work on paper and board, using assorted materials such as tiles, mirror, sweets, chocolate and pasta! The Mosaic Masterpiece, the 25 feet high three dimensional sculpture produced by the children, is on permanent display in the foyer.