Artist's Atelier, France.
Produced over the last 10 years, this show is a very personal exploration with the artist, inside his influences and thoughts as he moved from a studio in Ireland to his atelier in France where he now resides.
Lifeline provides us with a rare glimpse into the change and affect that this has impressed on one artist.
Michael Kieran was born on September 24, 1954 in Dublin Ireland. His late childhood and early life was marked by a discomfort with the education system and a complex relationship with his father. This ultimately led to the artist moving to both Saudi Arabia and further traveling extensively in France before returning to Ireland. Only much later in life did Kieran face the challenge of becoming the artist his father would never allow.
In 1994 he studied under Paddy Graham at DIT College or Art, graduating in 1999 with a BA. Hons in Fine Art.
Following his graduation, Kieran's first solo exhibition was held at the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda in 2000. He cites no artist as an inspiration though identifies most closely with American abstract expressionists such as Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Bryce Marden. This identity, he says, is derived entirely from the thought process, heavily dependent on deep periods of isolation and extensive writing prior to putting brush to canvas. Michael's work revolves around his personal struggle with our position in the universe, our value and ultimately the mark that we leave behind.
"Secret Whisper"
Kieran says - "it is the thought process to which I relate, rather than a direct affinity for the work of any artist", he goes further - "it is the moment of contact between two foreign surfaces, whether that's paint and canvas, sky and earth or indeed two bodies - it's that point of intersection and the marks created, both mental and physical that fascinates me so deeply."
Michael has constantly struggled to identify with the bourgeois society to which art is often associated, instead choosing to distance himself by painting in a sparse environment in the bastide town of Tournon-d'Agenais in Western France. Choosing to exhibit rarely in the last 6 years and allowing little access to his studio or work, Michael has produced an extensive set of work which he constantly recycles. This re-use and reworking of canvas he believes is because no art is permanent, it is instead a product of his own personal progress and evolution which he owes to his surroundings.
An excerpt from his writings reveals; "Life is made up of layers of time, we are layered one upon the other, our time is made up of building stone upon stone, year upon year, with traces that show through. We spend time hitting the surface to find out what is beneath. What went before, it's all part of the process of our lives. We are insects, chipping away at the crust that we live on. This we call earth. This is the constant element of all life this planet. What about the rest? Is there more to find or not. Do we live alone, in ourselves in this sea of planets and people, this swirling mess. So insignificant yet in our millisecond of history we feel as if our contribution to the development of the world is groundbreaking. But… when we place the time beside the moment we are in there is nothing but a scratch on the surface of eternity. My paintings are my small mark on time - my invisible contribution, mental moments and layers suspended in the paint">
During this time he has developed a process which he terms isolated, challenging but ultimately cathartic. The impact of this change in environment on his work over a decade has been dramatic. His process now includes the stretching of his own canvas, writing for prolonged periods, etching on the walls of his bastide studio and ultimately the "making of marks", at times on canvas.