PAUL ROONEY, DONEGAL, IRELAND
BACKGROUND
Since 1991 Paul Rooney has worked in various areas
of Art & Design. This includes street theatre & performance;
ceramics assistant; book designer/Illustrator for Donegal Genealogical
Society; education (Art & Technology technician specializing in
Digital Media and B&W Darkroom techniques) and numerous community
arts & workshop projects.
Paul has continued to exhibit his
art locally, nationally and internationally and is represented in
private collections in Ireland, England, France, Germany, Holland and
the United States (Boston, Louisiana, California & Nebraska) and
Irish public collections including Donegal County Council, Office of
Public Works, Coolkeeragh ESB and Letterkenny Institute of Technology.
Paul has worked at the award winning Queen Street Studios, Belfast,
taken part in a "Wider Horizons Programme" (Internship at University of
South Western Louisiana, Lafayette, developing work in painting,
sculpture & printmaking and is a founder member of Letterkenny
Artspace Studios and Avant Garda Artists Collective, exhibiting
non-traditional works in non-gallery spaces. Avant Garda took part in a
residency at the Fondation Vasarely, Aix-en-Provence in May ’13.
Public
work includes “Imaging Donegal”, residency and exhibitions for Donegal
Public Arts and Letterkenny Regional Cultural Centre, “Electricity”, a
large scale digital art commission and workshop programme for
Coolkeeragh ESB with Oakgrove Integrated School, Derry. Paul was awarded
The Derek Hill Foundation Prize at the Glebe Open Exhibition, Easter
2004 and March '07, he participated in an Artists Residency in Cill
Riallig, Co. Kerry.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Digital based artwork using Adobe CC,
and digital photography combined with found images and materials, ink
jet printed on tissue paper. Final works are collaged together and resin
sealed. More recent work has experimented with ‘Glitch’ art methods,
revealing the inherent instability of a digital file or image. Paul says
of his work: "The fragile, tactile nature of these pictures is as
important to me as the composition or image itself. The unorthodox
printing methods and unpredictable nature of collage transforms these
digital composites from something which is idealised on a PC monitor
into something flawed and human in the real world."
"Paul's imagery
is deeply influenced by cinema in its composition and scale. In
'Oatfield' the regular shape of the wire fence gives the work a linear
feel and harks back to the neo-Platonic works of the early Renaissance
particularly the works of the great Italian master Piero della
Francesca (1420 - 1492). However, in photography, the camera acts as a
barrier between the photographer and the subject matter and in this
particular picture, the inclusion of a fence adds a second barrier,
making the subject matter appear that much more elusive. It is safe to
say that like the work of Simon Burch, these works are about absence or
more directly an acknowledgement of loss. This sense of melancholy can
also be perceived in 'Landscape, Rain Approaching' which again would
seem to use classic cinematic devices of a pan-shot across a landscape
which usually sets the mood or tone for a particular scene. However,
unlike 'Oatfield' with its angular and linear composition, the landscape
works refer to a more idealized, simplified environment with gentler
curves, softer on the eye."
John M. Cunningham, Letterkenny Arts Centre, January '06.
EXHIBITIONS -
Selected One Person Shows:
SELECTED
WORKS - Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, May/July ‘12. IMAGING
DONEGAL - Donegal County Museum, Letterkenny, September ‘10. REFLECTIONS
IN 4 LIGHTS - Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, July ‘09. OF NIGHT
AND LIGHT – An Clachan, Gweedore, May/June ’09.
A BETTER PLACE - Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, Dublin, November ‘04.
JPEG REMNANTS - Donegal County Museum, Letterkenny, October ’03. b.c.d. - An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny, October ’00.
ELEMENTAL - Various locations, Letterkenny, July '98.
EPHEMERAL
- Central Library & Arts Centre, Letterkenny, November `95. SCHISM
- The Factory, Sligo & The Port Gallery, Letterkenny, May/July
`93. SCAPES - Errigal Arts Festival Gallery, Letterkenny, July ‘92.
Selected Group Shows:
/'fu:bar/ - Siva Galerija, Zagreb, Crotia, May 2015.
MIXTAPE – The Social Studios and Gallery, Derry, April ’15.
GLEBE OPEN - Glebe Gallery, Churchill, April ’15.
THE THIRD PLACE - An Grianan Theatre, Artworks Framing & The Cottage Bar, Letterkenny, June/July ‘14.
GLEBE OPEN - Glebe Gallery, Churchill, April ’14.
FRESH CUTS - An Grianan Theatre, Letterkenny, March/April ’13.
GLEBE OPEN - Glebe Gallery, Churchill, April ’11.
IMAGING DONEGAL - Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, June/July ‘10. GLEBE OPEN - Glebe Gallery, Churchill, April ’09.
ROLL UP ART – Bucharest, Romania, March ’08
BETTER THAN THE REAL THING - http://www.roll-up-art.blogspot.com/ http://betterthantherealthing.info/ June/July ’06.
FOUR
LIGHTS - Central Library & Arts Centre, Letterkenny, January ‘06.
ARTEFACT - Central Library & Arts Centre, Letterkenny, September
’05. GLEBE OPEN - Glebe Gallery, Churchill, April ’04.
STARDUST - The Context Gallery, Derry, November ’00.
BUNTAS
- Ardara Working Arts Centre, Ardara, October ‘98. CIOTH IS DEALAN -
Central Library & Arts Centre, Letterkenny, November '97. CHURCH OF
THE FUNK - (with Matt McDonogh & DeCal) Central Library & Arts
Centre, Letterkenny, July ‘97.
QUEEN STREET ARTISTS - Berlin Irish
Gallery, Berlin, December ‘95. QUEEN STREET STUDIOS / LETTERKENNY
ARTSPACE - Central Library & Arts Centre, Letterkenny, July ‘95.
CHRISTMAS SHOW - Model Arts Centre, Sligo, December ‘94.
OIREACHTAS ’94 - Guinness Hopstore, Dublin, September ‘94.
$71
PHONE BILL - USL Gallery, Lafayette, Louisiana, December ‘93.
GALAMATIA - USL Gallery, Lafayette, Louisiana, November`93. NORTHWEST
ARTISTS STUDIO SHOW - Bishop Street Studios, Derry, March ‘90.
NORTHWEST ARTISTS WINTER SHOW - The Shirt Factory, Derry, December ‘89.