There is no collective title
to this simply complex exhibition by Fergus Feehily. It
is just there to view. Or just nearly not there. The paintings,
drawings and models that make up this sensual and stimulating
exhibition are quietly self-assured. Their contemplative
calmness, deft dexterity of touch, experimentation of
markings and development of philosophical ideas are light
in movement, explorative of palette, and etched in a pathos
of humour in titles such as Blind line, Complex
cup and Small everything. This exhibition clearly
demonstrates that Feehily's painterly voice may be shockingly
understated but it is vigorously self-confident. The work
does not scream for attention, shouting "look at me!"
but serenely, in spun half-whispers, lures you into its
orbit by 'real presences'. Feehily uses found objects
such as plastic cups and wooden straws to make his markings
and, as George Steiner's phrase indicates, it is these
details that give the work a gentle edge. Like Charles
Brady, Feehily celebrates the everyday and the mundane,
but in an abstract manner as the object for Feehily becomes
the tool to create and develop his themes and the presence
of the object persists intensely in absentia.
For the last few years Feehily
has been living and working in Tokyo after acquiring the
much coveted Manbusho scholarship. Japonisme captured
the attention of many artists and designers such as Vincent
van Gogh, Rennie MacIntosh, Grace Henry and Eileen Gray.
The essence of modern Japan has caught the artistic imagination
of many contemporary Irish artists like Patrick Scott
and Mary FitzGerald. But Fergus Feehily has not only captured
the essence of a Zen-like quality in his work. He has,
in a very sublime way, captured a fusion of Irishness
within this richly layered, textured work by incorporating
fluorescent Celtic spirals and earthy tones. If contemporary
Japanese artists such as Chino Aoshima are creating bold
works based on traditional Japanese art coupled with western
ideas, Feehily seems to be approaching his work from the
traditions of Japanese print artists such as the legendary
Hokusai and Hiroshige. Like them he makes his work from
unusual viewpoints in flat blocks of colour. In Feehily's
case he is working mainly in oil or gouache on MDF with
chamfered edges which cause a wonderful illusion for the
viewer. The illusion created by his work is that it is
deceptively complex whilst appearing simple. Initially
the surfaces appear to be flat, but on closer enquiry
the layers of paint and markings come to command a grip
on the consciousness of the viewer which is both hypnotic
and meditative. For example, a speck of colour emerges
from an almost monochrome canvas and the surface textures
are exceptionally subtle. In work where he is using line
patterns the effect is also one which causes the viewer
to adjust to a deeper visual sensation than may be obviously
apparent.
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Fergus
Feehily: Ku, 2002, oil on MDF, 25 x 20 x
1.5 cm; courtesy
Green on Red Gallery
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There is something about Feehily's
use of lines and grids that is comparable to Bridget Riley,
as is their illusional quality with its extraordinary
ability to engage the attention of the viewer. There is
also a gratifying narrative in this work that encapsulates
the process which the work has travelled through. With
a light sculpture called Neon drawing, Feehily
reminds us that drawing can be achieved by alternative
mediums. His models, which are fluorescent orange glass
beads encased in glass or in a plastic bag, hang between
some works, cleverly suggesting the synthetic, modern,
global metropolis that is Tokyo, or indeed anywhere. If
Feehily's intention was "to make works that connect conceptually
in unique ways" and "that invite a sustained viewing experience"
he has achieved his objective. There is an integrity of
the medium and the mind at work, although works such as
Ku, Room and Tweezer don't quite
achieve the same delight as City and Small everything.
Perhaps the work that encapsulates
Feehily's intentions perfectly is Small things.
Like this exhibition, it is contradictory in nature, a
painting that looks minimal yet is deeply textural, almost
monochrome, but broken by fluorescent whirls, saying nothing
and everything at once. Feehily is not copying the East
but the influence of that place has a definite resonance,
both on a subconscious and a deliberate level that is
intensely satisfying.
Jane Humphries is a writer
and arts commentator.
Fergus Feehily: Green on Red
Gallery, Dublin, November/December 2002
