Phil Irish

For the Toronto Alternative Art Fair International (TAAFI), I installed the Cartographers' Lounge at the Drake Hotel.

Instead of the comfy chairs, I had a comfy bed, with an array of cheery pillows and throws. It was a popular place to be, as people drew maps. Very quickly, I filled the whole back wall with people's stories. I ran out of sticky-tac to put them up!

There were such amazing stories, actually... very moving, many of them. There were even some tears. In a place known to be "uber-hip," it was amazing to see people engage the paintings and the process in such a deep way. There are so many maps I'd love to follow. We'll see what I can do.

For everyone that visited, or drew a map, or bought work: thanks for a great weekend.

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It was great to see the responses to the pieces from the Kitchener residency. Here's another image to enjoy --- "Twas Now.

The new solo exhibition has opened at the Latcham Gallery!

I am very pleased with this new show, especially with how the new works re-animate some of the pieces that were shown last spring. There is vitality in this series, which is keeping my curiosity charged.

I am quite smitten with the newest work, "Bird Feeders," pictured above. The play between drawing and painting, diagrams and reality, is visually rich. The outline of the stained-glass ornament makes me smile every time: the guarantee that there will always be a bird to see.

Another pleasure in the show is hanging the smaller direct-response works beside the more elaborate map pieces. For example, the Twas Now sketch hangs near the larger painting, each expanding the meaning of the other. The two studies from Memory Gardens are hung next to the older "Grave", providing a more sustained reflection on mourning, loss, and hope.

The show continues until February 17th.
I'll be there for most of the day on January 27th, doing "family day" workshops.
Address is 6240 Main Street, Stouffville, Ontario.
Just 45 minutes north of Toronto.

A recent painting: Phil Irish. Tree Fort, Oil on panel, digital print. 110 x 125 cm, 2007.

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"Phil Irish and Adrian Williams"
August 2nd – August 25th
Opening reception Thursday August 2nd 6–9 PM
Angell Gallery

890 Queen Street West
Toronto, Ontario (Located west of Trinity Bellwoods Park on Queen and Crawford)

Gallery hours: Wed to Sat
12pm to 5pm
or by appointment

This show opens on my birthday! What better way to celebrate, than with an art party! Hope to see you there...

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Phil Irish solo exhibition: "Scene Changes"

August 10 until September 1st (or 15th if theatre season is extended)
Opening reception Friday August 10th, 7 pm.

Bainton Gallery, at the Blyth Festival
423 Queen St.
Blyth, Ontario

The Blyth Festival is a summer theatre festival --- near Lake Huron.
A perfect summer place to be.
Why not make the trek for the show, and catch a play or two while you're there?

Phil Irish. My Goal, Oil on panel, digital print. 2007.

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Well, it's always gratifying to see the work on gallery walls. Crisp and clean, where the relationships between each piece become clear. Both openings were festive and good. I enjoy it when people really engage the work, take time to discover... and some even put their hearts on the line.

It's also great when critics and media take notice!

So here's the scoop about the shows:

1) Both exhibitions have been extended! So, if you haven't be able to see the shows, you have a little more time....

Phil Irish and Adrian Williams now runs until Saturday September 1st. For details, see
Angell Gallery

Phil Irish: Scene Changes now runs until September 15th. At the Bainton Gallery, Blyth Ontario. see The Blyth Festival.

2) Both exhibitions have received positive reviews!

See "The Globe and Mail" review by Gary Michael Dault, click here.
See "The Record" review by Robert Reid, click here.

3) The painting "My Goal" is being purchased by the Macdonald Stuart Art Centre.
The Macdonald Stuart is the public gallery in Guelph, Ontario.

Hope you enjoy these last weeks of summer. I'm taking Arden camping on the lovely shores of Georgian Bay!

A DETAIL from the painting, Phil Irish. "Hope, my love." Oil on panel. 2007.
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I haven't posted anything about this, because it is so personal. But also so public. A weird thing... now I feel that, by posting a detail, this can be shared.

The PUBLIC PART: I have a portrait shortlisted for the Kingston Prize! This national portrait competition has selected 30 works for exhibition, and the prize winner(s) will be chosen from that group. I'm pleased to see some artists I know in the line-up, as well as others I don't. It should be a good party: the gala is on October 4th.

The PRIVATE PART: This painting was not done as part of any series or thread within my work. It was done as a private work, to mark a significant moment in Anna's life, and my life. Our lives together. In a way it is a quiet painting -- no broad gestures or abstract ruptures. Quietly honouring the hope we have, and the suffering we leave behind... how both hope and suffering leave their bodily marks. The result, I feel, is a sensitive image of great power. Anna, my love...

Now this private thing goes public, making us both rather awkward. We actually don't want people who know us to see it... but, for "art-land," it will function as an image apart from the complexities of our lives lived. How's that for conflicted? I won't be conflicted should we happen to get the $10 000, though -- haha!

Phil Irish. A Modest Ostentation. Oil on panel, digital print, 2007.

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This painting just won 2nd Prize in the Shirley Dilworth Jaychuk Painting Competition, at the Elora Centre for the Arts. It was a great evening of festivities, with jurors I respect: Doug Kirton, Will Gorlitz, and Judith Nasby.

Did you know that an "ostentation" is a name for a group of peacocks? A murder of crows... an ostentation of peacocks. The word seemed fitting for this work: the wild opulence of the peacock feathers and postures, set amid the cedar beams and humble window of an Ontario barn. At the left edge, all remains quiet and muted. As your eyes explore further to the right, the colours and spatial tensions increase their strength and freedom.

The textures of fencing interrupt the surface, fading in and out of focus.

Here is how the Narnia Triptych looked, at the River Run Centre and the Centre in the Square. It was amazing to see the work as it was intended, after a couple of months of work. The following images show how it looked with various lighting effects that I also did plans for.

The melding of music, dramatic reading, and visuals was very successful. An imaginative evening indeed.

Phil Irish. A Bridge I Can't Burn Down. Oil on panel, digital print. 200 cm x 110 cm. 2008.

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Here's the first nocturne, that I mentioned. (Perhaps 2 others on the way.)

This piece was the centre-piece of "Intimate," my recent exhibition at Galerie Joyce Yahouda, in Montreal.

I am very excited about the world opened up within this painting: the contrast of surfaces, the delicate lace pattern against the explosive bridge, the dance of illusion and abstraction.

It is based on two bridges, side by side, in Quebec City.

It is emotionally engaging. I believe it speaks of the longing for connection, for building bridges, for love.