EERIE PHOTOS OF ABANDONED ALBATROS SITE
A COLLECTION of photographic works showing concrete industrial buildings in a state of emptiness and destruction, including the former Albatros fertiliser building and an old oil plant outside New Ross, forms a solo exhibition by the artist
Fergus Doyle of Glynn, pictured, which is continuing at the Kamera 8 Gallery in Rowe Street, Wexford.
The show is called Janus, named after the first Roman God of doorways and entrances as well as transitions, time, beginnings and endings. who is depicted with two faces, looking simultaneously back at the past while also gazing forward to the future.
In keeping with the theme, some of the images in the collection resemble Roman ruins or frescos and play on ideas of past and present, memory and vision, manipulation and reality while also hinting at the precarious nature of past workforces and future employment.
Walking into the exhibition space the viewer encounters a large digitally-manipulated image, showing a girl with two heads (the subject is actually the artist’s daughter Amelia), one wearing virtual reality or sun glasses, facing forward into a light source, with the other head painted in vivid orange and purple looking back over her shoulder through a door into another room where there is a wall-mounted display of disused factory interiors.
The girl points forward to a small image on the wall depicting a deconstructed industrial building in the shape of a computer power button. In addition, there is a display of more industrial concrete buildings presented on loose canvas attached to sticks.
Some of the exterior shots of the former landmark Albatros building and old gas works on the outskirts of New Ross town resemble an almost alien landscape with strange and abandoned extra-terrestrial-style structures.
Fergus received his art education at the Gorey School of Art and the Wexford School of Art and Design at Carlow IT where he was conferred with a Bachelor of Contemporary Arts and an MBA in Professional Arts Management.
His work consists of sculptural installations with projections, photos series, large format photography, book publications and more recently Tableau Vivant video. He has worked as a technical assistant on several public art installation projects including Brian Hand’s Little War in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle.
He is a co-founder of Studio 9 Wexart which was set up to offer support to early career artists and graduates and he is currently working as Art Technician for IT Carlow at the Wexford Campus.