"FRIENDLY SHADOWS"
Music, movement and the magic of colour have all been captured in these "Friendly Shadows". Inspired by and always surrounded by people, Breda’s painting is very much an extension of herself. Her studio in Westport is home to a constant stream of visitors, where she can be found, brush in hand, engaged in animated conversation, moving easily between a diversity of projects in various stages of completion. The same buzz of excitement, with several things happening at the same time, has been created in this exhibition.
Breda has always been interested in figurative imagery, and the way people interact. The collection of pictorial images, representing some of her numerous friends, has all of the essential elements of a deeper level and addresses a more serious issue.
Our world today is highly dependent on media stimulation. We are bombarded by constantly changing images, fashions and fads. We have become accustomed to accommodating overlapping and often contradictory ideologies. The multiplicity of communication channels available to us has served, paradoxically, to make the business of expressing ourselves and conveying information much more complex and open to misinterpretation.
The graphic simplicity of the silhouette, frozen in a snapshot situation, provides the distilled image upon which Breda superimposes her carefully selected, often fragmented, but key motifs. The juxtaposition of these isolated elements, drawn from the lives of her chosen subjects, collectively serve to provide a wider picture of our lives today.
Her approach is intuitive and experimental, as is her choice of media. She explores the physical nature of paint, its qualities of weight, texture and expressive potential. She has in the past worked with the traditional oils and watercolours and more recently with the household materials of spray, gloss and emulsion paints. In this present series she has moved into experimenting with acrylics, where she employs a variety of techniques to create movement and visual tension within the pictorial surface. We also see another new development; the inclusion of relevant objects, which when isolated from their function seem to take on a new life of their own, adding a new dimension to the composition.
In this, her first solo exhibition, Breda brought together many strands of thought she has previously explored, in a vibrant and very contemporary statement. Influenced by our indigenous culture and spectacular coastal landscape, most particularly her childhood memories of holidays happily spent at Carramore Strand, Breda’s choice to return to Westport and work in the notoriously fragile business of being an artist is fully justified by the strength and content of this exhibition.
Marion O’Donnell,
Director, Sculptors Society of Ireland.
BREDA BURNS: Biography
Breda Burns was born in Westport. Since leaving college she has worked in a variety of jobs including Murals, one of which was a first prize winners in the Arts and Cultural section of Co-Operation North. She was also involved in the designing of a number of Floats including Allergan’s, which as been a first prize winner for several years. Set Design is another area in which she worked both here and in the USA.
Breda has exhibited in a number of exhibitions, including Western Artists, Mayo Artists and Young Westport Artists, to name a few. At present she is a Mayo Artist in Residence |
