Lake Lake Hill Hill Lake 9318 by Mateusz Lubecki will preview on Friday 9 February at Townhall Cavan at 7pm.  Exhibition opening hours Saturday 10 February until 16 February 11am to 4pm.  It is closed on Sunday 11 February.   The artist was a recipient of the Bullock Lane Studio Opportunity by Cavan County Council supported by the Arts Council at Townhall Cavan, 2017/18.

 

 

Mateusz Lubecki is a visual artist based in Mullagh, Co. Cavan. Born in Poland he’s moved to Ireland eight years ago, making the island his home. He studied Art in IADT Dun Laoghaire, and after graduating in 2016 he has been awarded a part in the Peer Residency in the RHA, Dublin and is currently finishing the Bullock Lane Residency at Townhall Cavan Arts Space.

 

Mateusz’s work is predominantly concerned with the idea of personal memory. This theme has been developing for the past three years, and has changed from painting representations of memories as depopulated maquettes, through faceless figures to what is the present stage – paintings highly influenced by photography. People appear in the work more often than not now, and even though the painting is an ongoing work in progress, the pieces seem to share some common characteristics, most notably the colour palette. There’s no set ‘style’ throughout the paintings and experimentation can be seen in each. The subject of memory is always present. The paintings of family photographs seem to remind of one’s own photo albums with their awkward poses, unfortunate cropping and forced smiles.
Titling the paintings has always been an important part of the process, a kind of a finishing touch, something the piece wouldn’t be truly completed without. For this body of work the titles are quite descriptive, but also funny and give another view into the subject matter.

 

For his exhibition, Lake Lake Hill Hill Lake 9318 Mateusz has invited local writers to contribute their own personal memories. These are paired with paintings on show, becoming kind of accidental descriptions of what is happening in the images, linking the two memories of the two strangers from different countries.

 

 

One of the texts is paired with a series of three small paintings based solely on the artist’s memories. Through their vagueness and simplicity they tie to the earliest stages of this project three years ago.  The participating writers are Patricia Doole, Kate Ennals, Fiona Fleming, Antoinette Rock and Lorraine Bennett.

 

 

Mateusz has had three small solo shows in Cavan, Meath and Monaghan, his work has been shown in group shows around Ireland and Northern Ireland. He has pieces in many private collections in Ireland and overseas, as well as public collections – the OPW and Cavan County Council.