Flashpoint Gallery presents Solas Nua’s First Visual Art Exhibition

Bart O’Reilly: Old Lines from the Luminous State
April 2 - May 8, 2010
Opening Reception: April 2, 2010, 6 – 8 pm

Artist Talk: Thursday, April 8, 12pm

 
WASHINGTON, DC – Bart O’Reilly’s Old Lines from the Luminous State explores the deterioration of our infrastructure, referencing places such as highways and farms, as well as the industrial tools utilized in their creation. Each piece of artwork is created with a nod to the corrosion of an object or place. Viewers confront the natural and man-made factors that facilitate the decline of the systems that make up our everyday experience.

“It’s rare to find an Irish visual artist exhibiting in The States, and Bart is one of Ireland’s brightest young talents. We are excited to work with Flashpoint Gallery for Bart’s first exhibition in Washington, DC,” says Solas Nua Artistic Director Linda Murray.

The exhibition features large-scale drawings, a video, photographs and an installation. O’Reilly invites viewers to interact with the exhibition through the installation: wood and sawdust will be scattered on the floor, creating a visual record of each person to visit the space and demonstrating the interaction between humans and nature over time.  His collection of discarded metal objects from an ancestral barn in Hartford County, Maryland inspired the drawing process, wherein the artist utilized water-soaked paper to bleed out the rusty tools. The video explores the effects of a series of car crashes on a highway divider located on Baltimore’s Interstate 83.

“My earlier work was painted in real-time; a video projected directly onto the canvas informed my creation. This process began my interest in time and the transient nature of actions. The work in my upcoming exhibition uses found objects – rusty tools and paper subjected to natural elements – to explore the nature of our common experience and how it is tied to the concept of time,” says O’Reilly.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bart O’Reilly graduated from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin in 2000. He participated in exhibitions in Ireland and Northern Ireland including Group Six at the Rubicon Gallery in Dublin in 2001 and Painted at the Sligo Art Gallery in 2003.

O’Reilly is currently based at Baltimore’s Load of Fun Studios. O’Reilly’s work has been featured at Philadelphia’s A-X-D Gallery, Annapolis’ American Contemporary Gallery, and Baltimore’s Nudashank Gallery.

O’Reilly directs an art program for adults with developmental disabilities in Anne Arundel County and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at Maryland Institute College of Art.

ABOUT SOLAS NUA
Solas Nua is the only non-profit organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to contemporary Irish arts. Solas Nua is a resident organization at Flashpoint.

Flashpoint Gallery
916 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
A CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION PROJECT
202.315.1305