Philip Flanagan: Philip Flanagan at the James Wray Gallery, Belfast

The Purity of Brightness

An exhibition of Paintings by Philip Flanagan.

31st May - 16th of June 2012

Kearney Bay, Co Down

The exhibition stems from numerous visits to Kearney in County Down.

In the paintings I suggest rather than describe the topography of the landscape, the paintings are a contour of my feeling or response to the setting, an inscape as opposed to a landscape.

I am using colour as a means of expression. Form and light are achieved by working over coloured grounds, patterns of colour creating energy. The strength of the colours is held in balance by structure, which emphasises their vibrancy, but resolves it into an overall calm.

The compositions create a sense of simplicity and purity, built on formal principles of firmness and balance, proportion and structure. I am interested in the plastic space of a flat plane, such as a canvas: perceived rather than real space.

There is an image from Apollinaire that conveys the beauty of light -

The window opens like an orange / the beautiful fruit of life.

Philip Flanagan 2012