Damien Flood
Damien Flood’s abstract paintings balance between figuration and landscape. His works are grounded in early writings on philosophy, theology, alchemy and the natural sciences. Flood uses these as starting points to explore the mutability of ‘reality’ and language. His paintings can be seen as visual contradictions and incomplete. A core interest in Flood’s practice is the slippage in language and meaning, how words can inhabit multiple connotations and when coupled with a painting can bring the viewer in new unexpected directions, transforming the image before them and teasing out something new.
Flood’s own gestures dashed on the canvas are both place and person, and neither. They’re a conflation and invention as memory is wont to do. But there’s magic in these sensory encounters; he explains, “a kind of alchemical process takes place when you first experience something. It cannot be restructured or recreated–those little sparks can only be alluded to.”
Flood’s solo shows include Grey Noise, Dubai, Green On Red Gallery, and Ormston House, Limerick, among others. Recent group shows include RH Contemporary, New York, Galway Arts Centre, Galway, Lehder Strasse 34, Berlin, Basic Space, Dublin, and NCAD Gallery, Dublin. He exhibited in the group exhibition Island: New Art From …
Damien Flood’s abstract paintings balance between figuration and landscape. His works are grounded in early writings on philosophy, theology, alchemy and the natural sciences. Flood uses these as starting points to explore the mutability of ‘reality’ and language. His paintings can be seen as visual contradictions and incomplete. A core interest in Flood’s practice is the slippage in language and meaning, how words can inhabit multiple connotations and when coupled with a painting can bring the viewer in new unexpected directions, transforming the image before them and teasing out something new.
Flood’s own gestures dashed on the canvas are both place and person, and neither. They’re a conflation and invention as memory is wont to do. But there’s magic in these sensory encounters; he explains, “a kind of alchemical process takes place when you first experience something. It cannot be restructured or recreated–those little sparks can only be alluded to.”
Flood’s solo shows include Grey Noise, Dubai, Green On Red Gallery, and Ormston House, Limerick, among others. Recent group shows include RH Contemporary, New York, Galway Arts Centre, Galway, Lehder Strasse 34, Berlin, Basic Space, Dublin, and NCAD Gallery, Dublin. He exhibited in the group exhibition Island: New Art From Ireland in Galleria Civica diModena, Italy, and in the three-person show Flood/NiBhriain/Vari at DOMOBAAL, London. He has been selected for the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize in 2008 and 2010. In 2014 he was the recipient of the Elizabeth Fitzpatrick Travel Bursary administered by the Royal Hibernian Academy.
Courtesy of the Artist and Green on Red Gallery
National College of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
