Eamon Colman – PanoramaSTRULE ARTS CENTRE, OMAGH

13 SEPTEMBER – 26 OCTOBER 2013

Hidden under a Heron wing (detail)2007-08, diptych, oil on linen, 157 x 428 cm

WELCOME TO “Panorama”, a retrospective exhibition of the work of Eamon Colman from the early 1990sto the present day.

This is the sixth year that the organising committee has included a major art exhibition as part of the BenedictKiely Literary Weekend but it is the first year that the exhibition has featured the work of one artist. The artistfeatured is Eamon Colman who enjoys national and international critical acclaim and whose works are heldin many important public and private collections in many parts of the world. During the 1990s Eamon wasChairman of the Artists’ Association of Ireland for two years and president of the European Council of Artistsfor five years.

Eamon is an avid walker who has travelled to many parts of the world. He has had residencies in Nepal,India, Colorado, Vermont, the arctic circle in Denmark and he has travelled widely in Europe, South Africa,Thailand, USA and throughout the British Isles.

The works contained in this exhibition have been created by Eamon in response to his many and variedtravels and in this way the exhibition is extremely relevant to the overall theme of travel writing for this year’sBenedict Kiely Literary Weekend.

Eamon Colman describes himself as a storyteller who just happens to be a painter. There is a very specificstory behind every one of the beautiful paintings in the exhibition and the title of each piece provides a hintto the story behind its creation.

We are indebted to Eamon Colman and Pauline O Connell for all their hard work in bringing this exhibitionto fruition. We thank also the collectors who have kindly loaned the works included in the exhibition. We areindebted to Geraldine O Reilly and Terry Sweeney for their collaboration with Eamon and Pauline in theorganisation of the exhibition and we thank the Staff of Strule Arts Centre for their work in bringing thisexhibition to Omagh.

Cllr Anne Marie Fitzgerald Mrs Marie Mc GrathChairman, Omagh District Council Chairman, Omagh Arts Committee

INTRODUCTION

‘The Astonishing Art of Cold and Snap’ is the title of one of Eamon Colman’s paintings from his series of works, ‘ScatteredShowers’ which is based on his experience of the changing weather patterns in his home place in County Kilkenny. It isone of the most recent paintings in this exhibition “Panorama” which contains paintings from the early 1990s. The titleof this particular work, like all the poetic and lyrical titles of his paintings doesn’t tell the viewer exactly what the workis about but it entices and it alludes to the many layers of complex thought processes, events, feelings and observationsthat brought the work into being.

In this particular work, we can palpably sense the connection between the feeling of physical coldness and the skilfullyscumbled dark blue and green oscillating and threatening cloud of paint in the upper left of the picture. We can also sensethe brittleness of the stinging snap of cold on the skin by the staccato movements of the thick scored white paint and drybrush marks like shards of ice and light as they stretch out from the cloud to indeterminate horizons.

The word “astonishing” in the title however gives us the deepest insight into the force which drives Eamon Colman.When a man is open to the possibility of being astonished, he is clearly and actively maintaining his sense of wonderand allowing himself what the poet Patrick Kavanagh refers to as the “luxury of a child’s soul” - an openness to discoveryand a readiness to sensually absorb and visually communicate his intuitive appreciation of the world in which he lives.

This sense of wonder and the exuberant andjoyful appreciation of the physical worldseems deeply ingrained in his soul andensures that he takes nothing for granted. Itmay have originated in childhood when hisparents fostered his sense of adventure,introducing him to travel and to a worldpeopled with creative artists and writers. Itmay also have been later reinforced by hisknowledge and understanding of the landitself, its flora and topographical andgeographical features while he trained andworked as a landscape gardener. It may bethat his travels have taken him to places andcultures rich in myth and heritage. It may beall of these and more.

Hanging precariously, rain comes slowly from the south

2013, oil on Somerset paper, 60 x 91 cm

The astonishing art of cold and snap

2013, oil on Somerset paper, 60 x 91 cm

When he travels, he engages deeply with the rhythm of the landscape in which he moves. He treads on grass, clay,rocks, walks through water, dust and sand, breathing, feeling, hearing sound and stories and seeing with heightenedsensibility. It could be said that he has what Yeats described as a “pilgrim soul” because his travels are no ordinaryphysical journeys - they are in a sense pilgrimages, the purposeful journey of the body and mind towards cleansing andrenewal. Paul Coelho in his book “The Pilgrimage” likens such journeys to “the act of rebirth”. Colman was initiallydrawn to places of pilgrimage but now wherever he is whether it be in the mountains or town lands of rural Kilkenny oron a different continent, he carries each experience with him recognising the common core of human interaction andengagement with the earth.

The paintings he produces in response to his travels are effectively a continuation of this atavistic beating dance rhythmof his footfall on the earth. They have the air of spontaneity with vibrating colour, strong gestural sweeps of the paintbrush, the pulsing repetition of pattern in lines, dots and arcs. That is not to say that Colman’s paintings are spontaneous.Far from it. It is as if the churning impulses of his initial kinesthetic experience are drawn inwards, processed,intellectualised then expelled and stilled by the act of painterly creation. His work is unique and yet it summons up thespirits of painters as diverse as JMW Turner, Paul Gauguin, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Peter Lanyon, Howard

Hodgkin, Frank Auerbach and Nano Reid.

Colman controls his own distinctively crafted visuallanguage carefully to achieve compositional balance andinduces the pulsating vitality of colour by skilful andpatient glazing and layering of paint. Forms arefrequently monumental, where the eye is drawn intoarbitrary perspectives in the picture and led through thecomposition on a journey weaving through ambiguousbiomorphic shapes and substances. Each of hispaintings of the landscape breaks with all formalconvention of containment and he creates forms,patterns or lines which lead the eye out of the pictureframe suggesting that the visual experience is amomentary glancing fragment of a greater universe.

Terry SweeneyAugust 2013

A moon for hanging coats on

2006, oil on linen, 38 x 46 cm

After dawn, rain and wind came to lift everything

2013, oil on Somerset paper, 60 x 91 cm

Ling line morning

1997, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cmWaltzing the Danube

1996-97, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

And now a feather gently falls

1996, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

Skagen

1996-97, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cmWood Angels

1996-97, oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm

In dreaming of its past the

shepherd's tree bore

glorious fruit

2004, 36 x 36cm, oil on linen

Place of the dreaming stone

1992, mixed media on paper, 60 x 74 cm

Star fish turns

1992, mixed media on paper, 45 x 53 cm

Dawn nets set to capture the lofty endeavour of the human spirit

2010, acrylic and oil on Somerset paper, 142 x 142 cm

Waking the dapple dawn drawn Falcon

2007, oil on linen, 46 x 55 cmThe sea is calm, the tide is full, the moon lies fair

2007, oil on linen, 46 x 55 cm

Gypsy moth

2006, oil on linen, 46 x 55 cmOn a lake with magic water we walk on flat stones

2005-06, oil on linen, 46 x 55 cm

EAMON COLMAN CV1957 Born Dublin 1993-1995 Chairperson, The Artist Association of Ireland 1993-1996 Board Member of The Sculptors Society of Ireland 1995-2000 President, The European Council of Artists2000-2004 Board Member of The Butler Gallery Kilkenny2007 Elected Member of Aosdána awarded by The Arts Council Of

Ireland to honour artists whose work has made anoutstanding contribution to the arts in IrelandFellow of The Ballinglen Art Foundation

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS2014 Oriel Queens Hall Gallery, Narbert, Wales2013 Panorama, Strule Arts Centre, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, invited

Scattered Showers, Christchurch Gallery, Triskel Arts Center,Cork, invited

2012 There is no season for margins, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin 2011 Monument, Stern Studio Gallery, Vienna, Austria, invited2010 Before the dark gets stronger than the light, RUA RED, South

Dublin Arts Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24 - invitedWhat is real or actual, everything or nothing, Oriel Queens HallGallery, Narberth, South Wales, invited

2008 Remnant, Cecille R. Hunt Gallery, Webster University, St Louis,USA, invitedVantage, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin - catalogue

2007 Breath of the River, Galeri Caernarfon Cyf, Wales, invited2006 Between Bog and a Sagging Wall, Vangard Gallery, Cork

Knot of Souls, South Tipperary Arts Center, Clonmel, Co. TipperarySalt River, St. David’s University, Lampeter, WalesSalt River, Oriel Queens Hall Gallery, Wales & Hillsboro Fine Art,Dublin

2004 Africa 22º - 35º S, Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin (limited editionartist’s book)

2002 Walking Vermont, Vermont Studio Centre USA (catalogue) invitedVangard Gallery, Cork

2000 Rain on Water, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin1999 Frederickshaven, Denmark, invited 1998 Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Palais des Congres, Lorient

France, invitedRiver Walk, Vangard Gallery, Cork

1997 Post Cards Home, R H A Gallagher Gallery, Dublin (monograph),invited

1995/96 Digging for Pearls, Driochead Arts Centre, Drogheda & RubiconGallery

1994 Home of the Snake King (This time the dream is on me), RubiconGallery, Dublin

1992 Islands, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 1990 India, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin

Dreams from the Lions Head, Rubicon Gallery Dublin

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2012 The Good Children Gallery, New Orleans, USA (three person

exhibition, invited)2011 RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin – invited

2010 Kilkenny Arts Festival – strand 2, invited2008 Fís, part of Liverpool Capital of Culture, UK, invited 2007 Colour Fields, Draíocht Arts Center, Dublin, invited

Art Miami, Hillsboro Fine Art, USA2006 RHA Banquet Exhibition, invited2005 Eigse, Carlow, invited

Wexford Arts Festival, invitedAmber Arts Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, invited

2004 Irish Art, Angera Italy, to coincide with Irish Presidency, invitedGrand Gala, RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, invited

2003 Kilkenny Arts Festival, Fringe, invited 1997 Landscape & Recollection, The Ballinglen Experience, RHA

Gallery, invited1996 Irish Art, Dillon Gallery, London1995 Irish Art, Singapore, invited

Civic Forum, Barcelona, Spain, invited 1994 Banquet, Exhibition, RHA Galllagher Gallery Dublin, invited

Iontas, Sligo Art Gallery & RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin Irish Artists, Donal / Maxwell, Philadelphia USA

1993 Irish showcase Exhibition, Hong Kong Touchstone Gallery, Hong Kong

1992 Contemporary Irish Art Society Exhibition, Hugh Lane MunicipalGallery Dublin

1991 RHA Banquet Exhibition, Dublin, invited 1990 Images from Ireland, Brussels

European Artist of Promise, Brussels Echoes, Rue de Spa, Brussels RHA Banquet Exhibition, Dublin (invited)

1988 Celtic Vision, Bank of Ireland, Dublin E V & A, Limerick Open Circle, ScotlandDe Bello Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Canada

1986 Eamon Colman / Nick Miller, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin John Piper/ Eamon Colman, Winsor Arts Centre London Celtic Vision Mueseo Espanol de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid,Spain Celtic Vision Palacio Municipal de Exposition, Spain Living Art Exhibition, Hugh Lane Municipal Art Gallery, Dublin

1984 EV&A Limerick

SELECTED AWARDS RESIDENCIES COMMISSIONS 2009 Ballyfermot Travellers Action Project – “Traveller Perspectives”

book project and residencyTraveller Peace Pin - Pavee Point commission to design a symbolpin against violence

2007 Cill Railaig Project (invited to work with Niall Nessans / Master print maker), residencyBallinglen Art Foundation, Co. Mayo, residencyInish Lacken Project, Connemara, Co. Galway, residencyUni Truck, Belfast, Northern Ireland, commission

2005 CCAT Interreg Major Award for touring exhibition in Wales2002 1% For Art Commission, Roscommon Arts Centre

Full Fellowship Award from The Vermont Studio Centre USA 2001 Eigse, First prize painting

1% For Art Commission, The Bell Centre, Darndale, Dublin

The Euro World Project, First prize with Crumlin Children’s Hospital2000 Art flight awarded by the Arts Council of Ireland 1999 Residency in Hirsholmene, awarded by the Danish Council of Artists 1996 Arts Council of Ireland, Materials Grant 1995 Arts Council of Ireland, Major Artist Bursary

Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Co. Mayo, residency, invited 1992 Ballinglen Arts Foundation, residency Co. Mayo 1989 E.V.& A First Prize Painting

Artist in Residence Tyrone Guthrie Centre Studio Exchange to India awarded by The Calcutta Artist Union 1989- 1990

COLLECTIONS Wexford County Council, Norwich Union, Gordon Lambert Collection – IrishMuseum of Modern Art, K P M G, Jury’s Inn Manchester, IrishContemporary Arts Society, Deutsche Bank, Gresham Hotel, Mr. ErnieAnderson USA, AIB Bank Brussels, Bank of Ireland Brussels, PhilipDocahalo, Corp. Florida, The Merrion Inn, Cleary’s select Tea Rooms,McCormack & Sons, The Green Lizard Restaurant, Royal Victoria Hospital,Belfast, Sheen Falls Hotel, Kings House Museum Boyle, American Express,McCann Fitzgerald, Irish Life, Office Of Public Works - GovernmentCollection, Arthur Anderson, Smurfit Ireland Grp, Tralee Institute ofTechnology, Fyffes Ireland, Delta Airlines, The Arts Council of Ireland, TheDanish Arts Council, Citibank, Vermont Studio Centre, Unitruck,Fitzsimon’s Kenny Mallon Solicitors N. Ire., De Vere’s private collection,Temple Bar Properties, Stokes Kennedy Crowley, IBEC, Ltd., EnterpriseIreland, Jones Lang Wootton and various private collections worldwide.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHYDunne, Aidan, “Homesick messages from the heart and soul”, Sunday

Tribune, March, 1997, p. 10Clancy, Luke, “Eamon Colman, RHA Gallagher Gallery” Irish Times, March

12, 1997Ewart, Mark, “Walking Vermont, by Eamon Colman”, Irish Times, June 25,

2002

Ni Mhurchu, Aingeal, “Eamon Colman, Walking Vermont, Vangard Gallery”Irish Examiner, June 28, 2002

Dunne, Aidan, “Salt River, Eamon Colman at Hillsboro Fine Art”, The IrishTimes, April 27, p. 14

Mc Avera, Brian, “Between Abstraction and Landscape” Irish Arts Review,Spring 2007 – cover page & p. 62 – 67

Leach Hughes, Cristín, “Hue and cry over nature” The Sunday Times,Culture Magazine, November 28, 2010, p. 14

Leach Hughes, Cristín, “Eamon Colman – Scattered Showers” The SundayTimes, Culture Magazine, May 26 2013, p. 27

BOOKSIrish Monograph # 1McAvera, Brian, “Dreams From The Lion’s Head”, The work of EamonColman, Four Fields Press, 1998, ISBN 0-9532623 - 0 - 8

McLaughlin, Nicholas, “Walking Vermont” Recent Works 2002Mc Avera, Brian, “Africa 22º - 35º S”, Cassagh Press 2004 ISBN 0-9547955-0-4

O Reagan, John, (ed.), Profile 25 – Eamon Colman, Gandon Editions,Kinsale, 2006 ISBN 0948037 350

Daly, John, “Salt River”, Hillsboro Fine Art Publications 2006Mc Grath, Daniel, “Remnant” Eamon Colman at the Cecille R. Hunt Gallery,Webster University St. Louis, Missouri, Webster University Press 2008

Daly, John, “Vantage”, Hillsboro Fine Art Publications 2008 ISBN 978-0-9556736-2-7

O’Byrne, Robert, “Dictionary of Living Irish Artists’, Plurabelle Publishing2010, p.56 & 57 ISBN 978-0-9563011-0-9

Artist Profile FilmFronteer Films - in conjunction with Better Ireland Awards for DrawingStudies programme for National Gallery of Ireland

Representative Gallery:Hillsboro Fine Art, John Daly, 49 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1, Ireland,Europe. Tel: 00.353 (0)1.8788242 e-mail: info@hillsborofineart.com website: www.hillsborofineart.com

AcknowledgmentsThe artist wishes to acknowledge and thank all those who have generously loaned paintings from their private and public collections andassisted in the administration of this exhibition.

The Arts Council of Ireland/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, The Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Jean Brennan, Enda Byrne, Reuben Colman, Jonathon Cuthbert, John Daly, Brian and Vanessa Delaney, Dr. Paul Dowling, Michael and Irene Fenton, Dr. Barry and Kate Gaughan, Tessa Gurney, Bill Hanafin, Don Hawthorn and David Anderson, Austin and Geraldine Hughes, Irish Life Group Ltd., Josephine Kelliher, Leanne Lyttle, Hugh McGuinn, Ray Mullen, Lawrence Nesbitt, Joe and Frances Nolan, Kevin O’Brien, Daire O’Connell, Pauline O’Connell, Claire O’Farrell, Siobhan O’Leary, Brendan and Laura O’Mara, Geraldine O’Neill, Geraldine O’Reilly, Mary Pavlides, John P. Quinlan, Patrick and Eithne Ryan, Jackie Ryan, Emily Sheerin, Frank and Terry Sweeney.

Eamon Colman is an elected member of Aosdána awarded by The Arts Council of Ireland to honour artists whose work has made anoutstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland.

PhotographyAll photography taken before 2003 is by Denis Mortell, Gerry Farrell and David Farrell, since 2003 taken by Anthony Hobbs.

They put a road through the house of the Snake King

1994, oil on paper, 105 x 127 cm

Make the morning from the heart of night

2013, oil on Somerset paper, 60 x 91 cm

Strule Arts CentreTownhall Square, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT78 1BL

Telephone: +44 28 82245321 / 82247831 Facsimilie: +44 28 82240774Email: info@struleartscentre.co.uk Internet: www.struleartscentre.co.uk