27 March – 19 April 2025
Opening reception Thursday 27 March, 5.30-7.30pm
Artist in conversation with friend and fellow painter Colin Crotty, Saturday 12 April, 12pm
Lavit Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Clonmel-based painter John Kennedy.
The title of the show ‘The man who wanted to see it all’ comes from a documentary of the same name (Albert Albacete, 2021) which tells the story German man Heinz Stücke who left Germany in 1962, at the age of twenty, with his bicycle and a tent and by the time he returned in 1996, fifty years later, he had been in all the countries of the world. Kennedy’s recent series of paintings do not retell this story but are inspired by it. In fact, it is very much the artist’s practice to start with a subject, but through a series of abstractive processes, then arrive at a result that is a more autobiographical version or simply an homage.
Kennedy’s wandering eye takes him into new territory periodically and each subject is worked through until it is finally resolved. This exhibition also features paintings from two earlier bodies of work that focus on the disparate subjects of American timber-framed houses and the infrastructural and scientific architecture of an unidentified polar region.
What unifies all three subjects is the artist’s visual interrogation of the imagery and the process of applied abstraction and texture which are signature features of his painting process. For example, a video still from the documentary is first masked by using a search engine to find a different yet comparable image, perhaps one that is ‘better’ to paint. The chosen images are then largely silhouetted creating negative space into which the artist can introduce pattern or texture. The silhouetted figures are apertures into experiences lived but are not made visible to the viewer. In the case of the timber-framed houses evenly spaced vertical lines fill the frame, reminding us of the presence of the artist and their interpretation. The polar architecture series appears almost fully representational, but not quite. These paintings are stylised and artificially aged so that they appear to be illustrations plucked from the narrative of a graphic novel.
Methods of abstraction become motifs in the artist’s painting practice and traverse multiple bodies of work. The introduction of craquelure or staining has its origins in Kennedy’s earlier fascination with derelict historic interiors that once performed an important function, where wear and tear is evident, and patina is the main aesthetic currency. This look comes and goes within a series and across different bodies of work. The vertical lines from the house series have also made their way into other subjects. Similarly, grids have appeared on numerous surfaces.
The artist is also interested in the contrast between harsh realities or situations and homely comforts such as heat and soft furnishings. This is exemplified by the overlaying of the lace pattern of a doily onto the surface of paintings that might otherwise seem entirely bleak. The lace is a way of representing thoughts of home comforts, or a sense of home made by the mother of the house (in most cases) – the maker of lace. The artist asks how do people choose to exist in harsh environments (cycling a bike around the world for fifty years, not knowing what the next day/night will bring)? Did the protagonist have a way of manifesting ‘home’ when he lay in his tent at night? Even after fifty years, the place he returned to was home – even though he hasn’t been there for most of his life, it is home.
Petrichor is the pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather. Is there a similar signal when one returns home after a lengthy time away? Or is there a sense of comfort and warmth experienced by a worker in a harsh polar environment when they return to their prefab after a tough day? Hygge is a Danish word that describes a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment upon returning to a place of comfort and security after enduring challenging conditions. There are often smells associated with this feeling of Hygge, but you have to experience the harsh before you can feel the hygge.
Each series has a mood. As the artist puts it: “Due to the evolution of time and perhaps advancements in technology, the subjects depicted in my paintings may no longer hold a significant position or function in today’s world. But previously within their lifetime they had a critical role to play in someone’s well-being, beliefs or even survival. Set against lush or visually complex backgrounds the images and representational elements in my paintings possess a sort of infinity, they survive in a melancholy existence and reflect an everyday hostile world, in which they are transiting through”.
John Kennedy, A Poor Man’s Memory, 2024, Oil on linen, 56 x 46cm
John Kennedy is a painter who works and lives in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. He completed a BA in Fine Art at Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork in 1996. More recently he completed the Turps Correspondence Course through Turps School, London (2021). Solo exhibitions include ‘This Will be a Long Time Ago’, Main Guard Clonmel, Clonmel Junction arts festival (2023), ‘Edgelands’, South Tipperary Arts Centre, Clonmel (2021) and ‘Verlassen’, Army Barracks Magazine, Clonmel Junction Festival (2018). Group exhibitions include Winter Exhibition, Lavit Gallery, Cork (2023/2024), ‘Outbuilding’, The Source Arts Centre, Thurles, Co. Tipperary (2021), ‘From Beyond – The Lockdown Series’ – Online exhibition in response to COVID-19 restrictions (2020), ‘Remnants’ curated by John Kennedy – South Tipperary Arts Centre, Clonmel (2018/2019), Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition (2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018).
