HIGHLANES TO CELEBRATE THE HUMBLE ‘CHAIR’
WE sit on them almost every day of our lives, but seldom stop to think of the significance of the humble chair.
A new exhibition starting in the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda on Saturday February 9th sees artist Mary A. Kelly exploring and celebrating the ‘Chair’.
Jack Kornfield in A Path with Heart describes ‘ taking the one seat in the center of the room, opening the doors and windows and seeing who comes to visit.’ When we take the one seat in Buddhist meditation it is said we become our own monastery. We create the compassionate space that allows for the arising of all things such as sorrow, loneliness, shame, desire, regret, frustration and happiness.
The focus of investigation in this new body of work for mid-career artist Kelly is the chair; armchair, couch, as a physical object in space. It is a resting place, container, location and position. It’s position on its own or with another or other chairs is a conversation about relationships with people, objects and self.
Be seated, take a seat, take one’s seat is something we take for granted today but was not always the case. The first chairs in ancient Egypt were supported on representations of the legs of beasts or the figures of captives. They believed that chairs needed to incorporate natural forms to avoid creating chaos in the universe by constructing an artificial object.
Mary A. Kelly’s interest in this solo exhibition curated and initiated by Aoife Ruane, Director, started many years ago while taking part in a group psychotherapy process. ‘ The simplicity of the room and the depth of life experienced in that space led me to explore many similar rooms with my camera. Eventually my focus became the chair as a construct aside from life and a witness to life.”
A chair or seat is a piece of furniture that holds and supports the human body. In these paintings the body is absent but implied.
The intention is to create a pause or resting point for the artist and the viewer. The gallery, not unlike the secular church, stands as a temple between life itself and art. The sound recording of the dawn chorus is the natural orchestration of birdsong with the advent of dawn after dark and Spring after Winter. It is a homage to the Natural World with respect and wonder.
The exhibition runs until Saturday April 13th 2019 and Mary A. Kelly will be in conversation with novelist, journalist and freelance curator, David Galloway, on Saturday 9th February at 3.30pm. Free, all welcome.