The Quick and the Dead

Patrick Graham, Patrick Hall, Timothy Hawkesworth, Brian Maguire

The Quick and the Dead brings together four of Ireland’s most respected contemporary painters who emerged in the 1980s. In this period of uncertainty Patrick Graham, Patrick Hall, Timothy Hawkesworth and Brian Maguire consolidated their position by a dedication to a revival of painting and the search for existential meaning through aesthetic experience. Using the fundamental tools of colour and form these artists addressed not only the religious, political and social spheres of 1980’s Ireland but also the universal condition of existing in the modern world.

In 1986 the artists featured in 4 Irish Expressionist Painters, a collaborative exhibition between Northeastern University and Boston College in the United States. Over two decades later, an exhibition by same the four artists is presented at an equally uncertain time in Ireland. The Quick and the Dead brings together for the first time a selection of work from the last decades of the 20th century with work from the present. In this time of economic, social and political flux, the works in this exhibition encourage a reappraisal of issues that remain unresolved, reconnecting viewers to a rich and subversive history.

The Quick and the Dead is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue. Contributors include Colin Graham, Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue, Lara Marlowe, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Patrick T. Murphy.

Exhibition supported by The Irish Times.