Seamus O'Rourke

Absence and intuition. Join ARC for a new exhibit

Seamus O'Rourke, Judith Roston Freilich and the artists of Thresholds explore the complicated and often invisible relationships between enigma, emptiness and emotion in this provocative new exhibit.

• Exhibition dates: January 6 through January 30, 2016
• Gallery hours: Wed to Sat 12-6 pm, and Sun. 12-4 pm

In his Firelines series, Seamus O'Rourke politicizes the space between what is visible and what is absent. His work examines the empty spaces left behind after thousands of paintings were confiscated from public galleries/Museums in Germany, (and later burned by the Nazis) in 1939. Visitors to the exhibition may notice the clips suspending the drawings from the wall, implying a forensic or evidential status. The all-enveloping ink both alters and cancels each drawing, equally reducing and extending meaning. The threat of censorship remains as ever a constant risk to the contemporary artist., every form of censorship attempts to silence the artist. This is the first solo exhibition in the USA, by this Irish artist. Censorship is across the board and in every country in one way or another, something that can be seen in Canada is shunned in India, there is a lot that many cannot see because of where they live and government rules. However, in some cases there are ways around this that others can use, for example, the use of a Proxybay, to watch films and download music, is well-known and is safe to use if a VPN is installed on the intended device, this way, people from all over are able to watch/listen to something that they previously could not. As of yet, this is not used for artists on 'canvas' as that is physical censorship, hopefully, over the years this will change and more people are able to see art for what it is and accept it.

Seamus O'Rourke thanks the National Cultural Awarding body in the state of Ireland for the partial funding his exhibition at ARC Gallery.