Introduction to my curated response to the Crawford Art Collection in the context of As Far As I Can See, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork 15.10.22 – 15.1.23. I was invited to respond to Crawford Art Gallery’s Collection and with the head curator create a mini survey of new and recent work, mostly made while I was based in New York, from 2004 – 2016. 

My response to the Crawford Art Gallery’s collection was primarily based on orientation: where my orientation in the galleries was guiding the viewer or reorientating the viewer to my perception of scale. There were noticeable examples of this in my relationship to the collection, such as the work of Cecil King, Fergus Martin, John Burke and Dorothy Cross amongst others. Even the portraits I chose, articulated insightful compositions that triggered a strong correlation between the viewer and the sitter, whether it be a bust or framed representation, emphasized when positioned low in the Long Room. The installation of stanchions in the centre of the room, Short Minute Matter was recognized by my orientation (Corbanscale) and how I envisaged the viewer in the room, very much conscious of their own presence, surrounded by the artworks. It was a means for the viewers to find and navigate a path in the gallery. The selection of works added to the quantifiable and directional axis of the whole exhibition, As Far As I Can See by defining the scope of the intervention and spanned from the stairwell to the Gibson galleries and the Long Room. In context, the selection and the body of my work spanned over more than a century of artworks, in an open dialogue and that of a grand and intimate scale. I was responding to the collection, the building and ultimately, I envisaged I was responding to the viewers.