Locus

David Eager Maher

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Oliver Sears Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Locus, an exhibition of eight new paintings by Dublin born artist David Eager Maher, his debut at the gallery.

While ‘locus’ is a term used in physics and medicine, its English derivatives ‘location’ and ‘locale’ strike more purposefully at the heart of Eager Maher’s motives. Technically complex, each painting is constructed using imagery taken from art historical references, real places and imagined landscapes. The environment the artist creates is empty of human figures, although the buildings and interior views imply human interaction in the past. Lush foliage permeates the compositions, a living metaphor for the end of colonialism as the jungle literally swallows up the conquistadors driven to tame it.

But ‘Locus’ also represents autobiography. The quiet within each frame reflects the artist’s self imposed isolation where, by confining himself to a small focused existence, he can attempt to understand the history of a much bigger world; One where realism is not about real things but how things are really. ‘Locus’ is the work of a 19th century explorer living in 21st century Wicklow.

An essay by Seamus McCormack will accompany the exhibition. An online catalogue will also be available.

David Eager Maher was born in Ireland in 1979. His work is inhabited by crumbling and obsolete cultural motifs and chronicles an imagined world. Much of the botanic representation and flora is symbolic of an imposed idea of the exotic and exposes natural relics from colonial epochs. While looking at Eager Maher's work artificial scenes converge and explore spacial and narrative  possibilities. All the while engaging with an elegant construction of fragments that intend to navigate the slippage between contemporary drawing and painting.

Recent solo exhibitions include, Villa, Galerie Drei Ringe, Leipzig, 2017. Paper Tress, Pallas Projects Dublin, 2016. Inheritance, Galerie Drei Ringe Leipzig, 2015. He has also taken part in many group exhibitions including Jealous Wall, Luan Gallery, Athlone.  Exploration: Landscape, Jarmuschek + Partner, Berlin.  Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire, Galerie Drei Ringe, Leipzig.  Paper Works II, Galerie Martin Mertens, Berlin.  In Residence II, Oliver Sears Gallery, Fitzroy Square, London 2016. He is the recipient of several awards including, The Golden Fleece Award 2015, The Thomas Damman Memorial Trust Award 2013. In 2016 David was awarded the Visual Artist Bursary from The Arts Council of Ireland. 

His work is held in many important public collections including, The Office of Public Works (Irish State Collection), Dublin City University. National University of Ireland, Maynooth. The Casino at Marino, Ireland as well as private collections in Ireland, England, Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, & theU.S.
 
In 2014 David's practice was featured in the internationally renowned publication Fukt for Contemporary Drawing # 13 launched at the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS.

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