A painting might be ‘a flat surface with paint on it – nothing more’ in Stella’s famous phrase, but I still love the sides of his canvases, especially the staples. Cracks are nice, too, but the main thing that fascinates me about Hubert Robert’s ‘L’Accident’ in the Musée Congnaq-Jay in Paris is the mysterious Falling Man, in my version falling out of the sky rather than from a building. I hadn’t seen the album cover for Belbury Circle’s ‘The Willows’ when I made ‘Molecule’ but now it seems to me this whole show was a bit Hauntological. Is it too late? Has that moment passed? I don’t think so – Merlin Coverley’s new book on the subject only came out in late 2020, my internet signal in central Dublin comes and goes more than the radio signal ever did and I have a cupboard full of dead phones and writing paper. The Ghost of Futures Past, or perhaps it’s just that Romanticism never quite went away.
'Man Falling', oil on panel, 16cm x 14.7cm
'Blue Writing Paper', oil on panel, 16cm x 12cm
'Rainbows', oil on panel, 23cm x 18cm
'Frontispiece', oil on panel, 12cm x 16cm
'Molecule (Limonene)', oil on panel, 20cm x 15cm
'Impressionist Paintings', oil on panel, 20cm x 15cm
'Peripheral Drift (Optical Illusion)', oil on panel, 16cm x 12cm
'Book', oil on Kelmscott vellum, 16cm x 12cm
'Re-enactment', oil on panel, 16cm x 12cm
'The Side of a Painting by Frank Stella', oil on panel, 20cm x 15cm
'Camera Obscura', oil on panel, 20cm x 16.5cm
'Eclipse', oil on panel, 20cm x 15cm
'Signs', oil on panel, 16cm x 12cm
'House', oil on panel, 12cm x 16cm