In his large work, Icon Study, artist Neil Dunne explores and challenges the ideas behind icon painting. This is the latest in our series on works by contemporary Dublin artists.
Icon Study
By Neil Dunne
Screen-print on primed MDF
244 cm x 122 cm
1. This work is about . . . the idea of an icon in a religious context. Icons and what they represent interested me, and I guess this work was a way that I could explore that in greater depth.
2. I made this work because . . . the idea of appropriating this imagery into my work for its desired effect, particularly with its scale, was something I really wanted to do. For me, it presented a lot of challenges, but I loved the physicality involved with making larger works.
3. I hope when people see this work they will . . . the scale and emotion in the subject’s face always dictates how I respond to a work, and this was something I was keen to represent. I enlarged the background characters, and I tried to focus in on individuals that had no real part in the central theme of the painting, aside from their emotive response.
4. In terms of art history, this work . . has a very strong relationship with traditional painting, the replication of this through the medium of screen-printing once again challenges the ideology of icon. The significance of the image and the meaning behind it becomes somewhat subversive, particularly when referenced to the original work.
5. You can see my work . . . on my website, www.neildavidjames.com. I also have some pictures on my Instagram from a photographic series I’m working on.
Curios [sic] About is a series featuring works by Dublin artists, curated for us by our friends at the Square in the Circle blog, and hosted there as well as here.
Each artist is asked to submit an image of one work and answer a set of questions about it. We’d love it if you’d submit something you’ve made.
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