Mayo artist's online exhibition celebrates sunrise around the world

MAYO artist Ian Wieczorek has found a virtual way around the 5km lockdown, and is sharing it in his first online exhibition, One Day : 40 Sunrises.

One Day : 40 Sunrises is an online exhibition/project that comprises 40 paintings following sunrise around the world on one day based on live webcam feeds accessed via the internet.

As Wieczorek observes: “We can travel the world through the screen of our laptop, tablet or mobile phone. Through live-streamed webcams it is now possible for us to be remotely ‘present’ in many locations. We can view beaches at holiday destinations, take in cityscapes, wonder at volcanic activity or watch wildlife in a safari park.

“Particularly in this time of Covid, it might be regarded as a rather poignant freedom.”

Over the course of 24 hours on a randomly chosen day – July 15, 2020 - Wieczorek tracked sunrise around the world, over six continents, from Canada and Tierra del Fuego to Tasmania and Taiwan, using online webcams, capturing it through a series of screenshots on his computer. These then became the basis for a series of 40 oil paintings he made as a response.

However, as he points out: “The experience is live and unscripted, we have no control over the positioning of the webcams, or their quality. All we can do is decide which ones to access. So while I was selecting locations at the local time of local sunrise, I had no idea what the weather would be, or even if the sunrise would be on screen at all.”

Why 40 paintings? He explains: “The number 40 references the word ‘quarantine’, a word that derives from the Italian 'quaranta giorni', meaning 'forty days', the period that ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go shore during a much earlier pandemic, the Black Death. It felt it was important to make reference to that in the project.”

Appropriately, the exhibition is now free to view online. As well as the 40 paintings, there is an explanatory video and an online catalogue. It means that this captured and documented day of sunrises can also be viewed all around the world.

Since it was launched it has received acknowledgement and praise from many quarters.

Said Wieczorek: “The response online has been really positive, and the project seems to have caught people’s imagination.”

The success of the project should come as no surprise. Wieczorek has earned recognition as a proven artistic presence both in Ireland and beyond. He has exhibited widely in Ireland, and also internationally in Germany, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, USA and China. One Day : 40 Sunrises is his 15th solo show.

One Day : 40 Sunrises was funded through a Covid-19 Crisis Response Award, which he received from the Arts Council last year. More recently he also received a Visual Arts Bursary from the Arts Council to cover future artistic endeavours in 2021.

Said Wieczorek: “I am delighted and grateful for this financial assistance. Covid has made the past months very difficult for everyone, including the arts community. This funding will allow me to continue developing my practice and making new work.”

While we are in lockdown, One Day : 40 Sunrises not only offers an art experience to enjoy, but also proposes the possibilities of seeing the world again, if only virtually. And in these restricted times that is at least something.

One Day : 40 Sunrises is viewable on www.ianwieczorek.com and on Facebook @OneDay40Sunrises.