New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Irish artist Maurice Quillianan’s latest body of works, 12 paintings created during his residency at Gallery ONKAF, reflect his engagement with themes of displacement, cultural exchange and memory.
The solo exhibition, titled “Every Grain Has a Name on It”, uses the landscape, horses and the human figure as metaphors for the metaphysical challenges one encounters.
“These 12 large-format charcoal and pastel on paper drawings are the remembrances of fictional characters who have been displaced from their countries by events put into play by others. They are at once internally and externally displaced,” Quillinan told PTI.
The works, based on the artist’s interaction with people and places in India, exists in “an ethereal world between abstraction and realism”, as he reflects on Delhi’s own layered histories, evolving urban landscape and position as a global cultural crossroads.
“For me displacement is about love lost. Love remembered. Love regained. Memory fading. Memory as the protagonist. In this exhibition each drawing has a particular person attached to it; only I know their identities … Publicly these are fictional works, but privately allude to real people in my life.
“When an artist makes a work there is always a narrative going on in the background pertinent to that artist which has formed the image, the piece of music, the novel, the dance. When the work goes out into the world it becomes displaced,” he said.
Talking about his time in India, the artist said that it has been a “refresher course in humility and humanity”.
“Apart from the vast monuments and extraordinary collections in museums and galleries, the thing for me which stood out most was people’s kindness and humanity. It made me feel how important we are to each other and how each individual story is so necessary and vital and that we should listen to each other and keep all narratives and dialogues open,” Quillinan said.
As individual figures of humans and horses in his works dissolve into a metaphysical mass sans identity, he admits that artists need to be devoid of identity and their works are reflections of experiences, both real and imagined.
“I think artists cannot belong or we become owned by particular sets of circumstances, certain identities. Artists need to be outsiders and be devoid of identity. I dislike the idea of the ownership of thoughts and ideas and circumstances because this closes so many variables which inform and challenge the narratives in art works. There is no true comfort in identity, the artist is always forced back on the pilgrimage simply to remain free and keep working,” he said.
The exhibition will come to a close on February 7. PTI MAH MG MG
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