Artist Statement | cfodonnell

Influenced by the mercurial weather of my homeland Ireland, I developed an interest in capturing light in my paintings and drawings. Following on from investigations into light and how the eye and brain perceive it, I started to visit ancient Irish archaeological sites and research the period of humanity known as prehistory. This interest has led me to primarily focus my research on the ancient abstract stone carvings and the monuments of the hyperborean areas of Stone age Europe.

I have always felt a sense of comfort and belonging looking into humanities deep past. Investigating and grounding my work in this breadth of time gives me clarity of thought to create images, that while complex in their simplicity, are also managing to connect with our «Zeitgeist». This is our common European history and it is just as a result of isolation that so much evidence of this period still remains in the north western parts of Europe. These areas act as a window into our past and show us that this ancient culture was much more sophisticated and advanced than we ever thought.

These monuments that were for a long time misinterpreted as just burial grounds are actually ancient technology. They were calendrical in their function using focused light to strike multiple abstract carvings representing different days of the year. But they also functioned as places of wonder and worship. Here their architects reflected the logic and order they witnessed in the cosmos to answer the big questions about the human experience.

I believe that there was no duality in this ancient world between the spiritual, physical and imaginative planes. We did not see the world as black and white, as night and day but rather as the dew that was born in their transition. Ancient Irish stories always took place in the flux of the in between states, in the twilight or the grey. I want my work to reflect this nebulous realm and bridge the gap between our modern lives and the lives of our ancestors. I aim to create light out of darkness right at the center of consciousness, fulfilling no purpose other than to exist.