REVIEW: The Victory of Culture by Farhad O’Neill -Féile an Phobail art show, St Mary’s University College, 191 Falls Road, Belfast
FARHAD O’Neill’s choice of title for his exhibition within the group show at St Mary’s University College, which launched as part of Féile an Phobail last night, is clever.
It’s The Victory of Culture, in Irish 'Bua an Chultúir'. As the question of Irish identity hovers over this remarkably diverse art show - the Féile’s 'summer exhibition', in a way - you sense the power of the visual arts.
There are harrowing inclusions, shoes belonging to Troubles victims from both sides, newsprint records of heinous crimes by the British government inter alia. But there is also the pleasure of a dilapidated white painted Donegal cottage, of portraits of Nelson Mandela and GAA and boxing heroes, of Pearse’s younger brother, of John Hume and Martin McGuinness.
Farhad O’Neill, happy to be back home after a decade or two in Canada, keys into his sense of being Irish via his sculptural accounts of ancient myths.
“I feel I am back in my own home rather than renting a room in someone else’s house.”
The colour is black, as his art is made of turf and other materials. Size matters, and these are small and beautiful objects with big ambition, as the artist reveals.
“You could have bronze statues in different parts of Ireland, in Belfast and say Cork. They would be scaled-up and placed in public places."
So what would we get? The terrible death of the great Cucuhlain who was killed by one of his own spears by the mortal children of Catalan is here. Although this is a maquette, that is, an artistic sketch or try out for a larger piece, it’s deeply affecting.
The hero dies standing up and eventually Morrigan, goddess of birth and death, alights on his shoulder in the form of a raven, who then attacks his eye.
As O’Neill observes: “These sculptures represent a principle, and with Cuchulain, there’s sacrifice and bravery coming out of the stone or pillar of his death”.
There’s a lot of metamorphosis. So, The Wooing of Etain has her transformed into a butterfly by water as a spell is cast. The piece flows, there are two women inhabiting the same space and eventually she is reborn. It’s about self-generation.
One piece re-works O’Neill’s double-portrait capturing his face and that of his late mother, which he says was difficult to complete and took 10 months’ work. It’s beautiful and haunting, with his late mother’s face and one eye covered by birds. The artist is transformed into our friend Cuchulain.
As O’Neill says, culture remains, changing, but there like a river. His sculptures are ancient in inspiration, as is their material, peat, but totally vital. There are his bronze circular bas reliefs at the back, one titled Immigrant/Emigrant, showing ancient yet modern figures and concepts.
This is a selling show, and the artist is in his second floor studio daily from 11 am to 6 pm.
The Féile an Phobail art show runs until August 10 at St Mary’s University College, 191 Falls Road. See feilebelfast.com for more information.
