I Will Follow You Into The Dark

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Paul McGrane

24 February - 22 April 2023

Launching 24 February from 6pm

Paul McGrane (b.1991, Dublin) is an artist & curator working in Dublin, Ireland. He graduated from Technological University Dublin in 2015 with a BA in Fine Art.

McGrane's practice focuses predominantly on painting and sculpture, and his interests lie in public spaces such as places of worship, stadiums and sensory rooms. McGrane takes inspiration from how such areas are designed to channel certain auras or energy. Nostalgia and emotion also guide the creation of the work as McGrane draws from personal memories of family and places he spent time in while growing up. Although the work is secular, it often references religion and spirituality; the sculptures take visual cues from Christian and mythic art, stained glass influences the colour of the paintings, and repeated physical movements while making the work can take on a meditative quality.

McGrane’s preoccupation with subjective feeling is mostly expressed through the language of abstraction- his paintings have foundation in colour, shapes, visual motifs, light and shadow. He has developed a process of layering thin washes of pigment repeatedly over each other. The paint is then brushed in long vertical or horizontal strokes.

Image: Fanlight by Paul McGrane, Rua Red, I Will Follow You Into The Dark, 2023. Photo by Dave Reilly