“Body Of” Exhibition Opens at LHQ Gallery
To coincide with Cork Pride, Cork County Council Library and Arts Service has announced a three-person exhibition by artists Conor O’Brien, Oskar Szewczuk and Samir Mahmood, each representing the marginalised non heteronormative body in their work.
The exhibition entitled “Body Of” opens Thursday 6th July at 6pm in LHQ Gallery, Cork County Library and will feature a range of styles including painting and mixed media.
The exhibition title references the phrase body of work. While body of work usually refers to the output of an artist, in this exhibition the term becomes literal through the artists depiction of their own bodies and alien bodies.
Samir Mahmood references his experience of migration from a conservative society to a more liberal society in Ireland in his work. “The works included in this exhibition are personal photographs collaged and transferred on panels. These photographs of bodies seem suspended in space, morphing, mutating and evolving - similar to the experience of a queer migrant in new surroundings, a new country, coming to terms with the new realities, “ says Samir.
Conor O’Brien paints fungi and deep marine life, in a way that allows them to take on a rhizomatic form. “My work explores the relationship between marginalised queer bodies and the alien other of science fiction. The paintings in this show include biomorphic creations which I refer to as Visitors. I use life native to earth such as fungi or marine life, informing the viewer that the Visitors are more like us than we might initially think. The amalgam bodies that emerge in the paintings include limbs and visceral forms reminiscent of genitalia and internal organs. They don’t resolve into coherent bodies - they appear to fluctuate, never resting, ever growing.” says Conor, “I see this as parallel to the experience of trans and gender queer people who are othered, and who dismantle preconceived notions of gender.”
Oskar Szewczuk’s work is centred around themes of the body and the human form. “In recent years my work has developed strong themes of queer art with this use of body image. My own experiences with body inspire me to make unconventional artists books and contemporary textile art,” says Oskar “There is a vulnerability in my work that contradicts with the masculine army themes.”
“Body Of” runs until Friday 4th August 2023. LHQ gallery is open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5.30pm. For further information email arts@corkcoco.ie
The LHQ Gallery is funded by Cork County Council and The Arts Council of Ireland.