Mayo gallery hosts first solo exhibition in west by Donald Teskey
STRANDS, a solo exhibition of new work by Donald Teskey, has opened at Claremorris Gallery. The exhibition features 16 new works by the celebrated Irish painter, ranging in size and medium and mostly created in Co. Mayo during the summer of 2021.
Initially recognised for his skill as a draughtsman and celebrated for urban architectural scenes, over the past 30 years Donald Teskey has taken the Irish landscape, particularly the western coastline, as the subject of his work.
Teskey has a longstanding connection with north Mayo, beginning with a residency in the Ballinglen Arts Foundation over 26 years ago. Teskey’s iconic representations of the western seaboard are by now firmly fixed in the cannon of Irish art.
In August 2021, Teskey returned to Ballycastle in north Mayo after his planned trip in 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic’s travel restrictions. The theatrical compositions he created during this residency depict Teskey’s unmistakable coastline, its sheets of barren rock and crashing waves with the pull of the Atlantic from sheer cliffs. Yet, in this exhibition there’s something new in how he conveys the dynamism of this most elemental landscape.
Rosemarie Noone, owner, Claremorris Gallery, notes: “The newness of the landscape to the artist upon his return after an extended hiatus is reflected in these paintings, his eye perhaps recalibrated by the isolation of the lockdown.”
Speaking about this body of work, Teskey said: “I brought together a selection of recent paintings which explore themes of landscape, environment, a sense of place, the new and the familiar all immersed in light and atmosphere and a love of paint.”
Over the years, Teskey has participated in group shows in Claremorris Gallery but this will be his first solo exhibition in a commercial gallery in the west of Ireland.
Claremorris Gallery has established itself as a destination gallery, known for its programme featuring strong exhibitions of important Irish artists at every stage of their careers.
Strands runs until December 20. See https://claremorrisgallery.ie/.