4th February 2011 to Sunday 3rd April 2011

Drawings & paintings to accompany ‘Wayside Shrines’ by Paul Muldoon

In 2009 Keith Wilson was commissioned by The Gallery Press to produce a series of images to accompany ‘Wayside Shrines’, a limited edition publication of two new poems by Paul Muldoon.

This exhibition at Dimbola Lodge from February to April 2011 includes the original drawings and paintings selected for the book and also many other related drawings made during the same period.

Over many years Wilson has created images of places and objects in response to his immediate surroundings. The resulting drawings and paintings relate to very particular sites near his home; sites which are highly specific and personal, yet hopefully universal.

Recurring motifs to date have been ditches, open fields, roads, boundaries, puddles and more recently, very specific objects and trees. He is constantly involved in trying to capture the essence of a place and describing how one can retrace one’s footsteps, look again and take time to think, working ‘in series’ for many years to accentuate this notion of looking again and returning.

He aims to make the everyday apparent, appreciated and intriguing and is interested in emphasising a stillness and tranquility through his work, ignoring the spectacular and getting closer to the more ordinary aspects of a particular place.

He has spoken of enjoying the natural world but not its distractions.

"Often I find it hard to focus when there’s so much out there competing for attention. I’d rather be indoors where I can concentrate on recreating some sort of atmosphere I’d experienced so rather than directly battling with the elements I make use of memory, notes and small painted studies."

Keith Wilson was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1971. He studied at Methodist College, Belfast and the University of Ulster. In 1994 he received an Honors Degree in Illustration from Edinburgh College of Art and in 1995 a Postgraduate Diploma.

His awards include the Axa Insurance drawing prize (2005) and the Hennessy- Craig Scholarship award (2006), both at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. In March 2008 he was shortlisted for the Golden Fleece Award in Dublin. He was invited to participate in Éigse Carlow’s thirtieth anniversary exhibition in the Visual Centre for Contemporary Arts, Carlow in 2010.

He has been artist in residence at the RHA studios and a returning visiting artist to the University of Wisconsin and TASIS England. In 2010 he was awarded a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. His work was also included in selected group exhibitions in Assisi, Amsterdam and Dublin. Wilson has held numerous solo exhibitions and has taken part in many group shows in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the US. Future plans in 2011 include a residency at Artestudio Ginestrelle in Assisi and participation in ‘Monoprint 2011’ at the University of Wisconsin.

His paintings and drawings are held in many public and private collections worldwide.

He was elected an Academician of the Royal Ulster Academy in 2010. He lives and works in Co. Mayo.