In this exhibition of works by Michael Mc Swiney, the strong influence of growing up in Cork harbour permeates the surfaces, structures, and meanings in the paintings.
The colour, atmosphere and memory of the Atlantic Ocean is in the layers of paint, tar, pigment and earth. Out of these surfaces, he excavates from the memory and imagery of living in 70’s Ireland, in a working harbour by the sea, where beauty, soul and adventure merge easily with decaying or destructive materiality and man-made structures.
The elemental possibilities of the coast are explored through a wealth of medium & materials applied to the canvas and of imagery he draws out; sea journeys, boats, dry docks, harbours, tides, oil rigs, pollution, abandoned buildings and factories and a forgotten bird, the Great Auk.