Recent Paintings

Speech by Prof. John Marshall, on the opening of an Exhibition of New Paintings by Brian Ballard, The Kenny Gallery, 19th September 2003

"Thank you, Karen, for those kind words. I wish to welcome all of you to this opening of the exhibition of Brian Ballard's recent paintings. It is an honour to be asked to open the exhibition this evening. On hearing this Summer that the exhibition was planned, I was delighted, because experiencing Brians work has always strongly affected my own emotions and thoughts. We thank Brian for being steadfast and true to his calling as an artist and we thank The Kenny Gallery for supporting artists and the arts in Galway over the decades. Kenny's is an inextricable part of Galway's rich, dynamic endowment in the fine and performing arts.

"[paraphrased and quoted] Brian was born in Belfast in 1943, and trained firstly at the College of Art in Belfast and later at the College of Art, Liverpool. He still lives in Belfast but spends long periods of time living and working in his house on the remote and rugged island of Inishfree off the tonegal coast. [end of paraphrase]" Brian has had a large number of one-man exhibitions in Gaiway, Belfast, Dublin, Glasgow, Bath, and London (Solomon, Mistrals, Waterman and Cadogan Galleries). His Group exhibitions include Images from Ireland, Brussels, and the Royal Hibernian Academy. His paintings are to be found in an extensive number of business, government and private collections, including Jefferson Smurfit PLC, U2, Art Councils of Ireland and Northern Ireland, Conrad Hotels, Waterford Crystal, Guiness Peat Aviation, and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The subjects of Brian's paintings are the sorts of things we see everyday. Look around your own life and look around this room: Bottle and clock; Mortar, Pestle and lilies; girl in a mirror; bright flowers and clock; white flowers and clock; three apples; sun, rocks and sea; two lemons and jug. The power of Brian's work in my opinion is to augment the visual sensation of these things into a higher level of intensity. Applying deep concentrations of colour, simplicity of texture and density of form, sweeping at the canvas with bold brushstrokes and arranging dramatic contrasts, Brian evokes in the viewer higher levels of perception and meaning. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. The subjects in the paintings radiate essences.

However, this radiation doesn't burn. We do not avert our eyes. Strangely, the paintings are soothing. I have no trouble gazing for long periods. My eyes can leisurely drift over the canvas - here, there and there. His figures are serene, pensive, at rest. Brian offers us cooling blues with highlights of contrasting and elemental reds, yellows and whites. Ciaran Carson describes, and I quote, 93many shades and thoughts of blue, azure, peacock, iris, cobalt, indigo, cerulian, hycainth. The various aqua blues. Washing blue. The colour of woodsmoke, lead, or skim milk. Jugs of blue, which hold enormous poppies." End of quote. Within compositions that are balanced and rooted, these colours soothe. I am made to feel at ease. And relfections! Mirrors and water. Multiple perspectives that are subtiedly revealed.

Brian's landscapes are rugged and elemental: Donegal, Kerry, Connemara. Heeding Yeats, Brian seeks out Nature.

"Come away, oh Human Child, to the waters and the wild."

Outside, standing before the blank canvas, I imagine his eyes rising from the easel to the creation of mountains, bogs, swirling waters and the rolling clouds surrounding him. The landscape flows in. Mediated through Brian's vision and given form through his talents, the landscape takes new shape on the canvas. He invites us to enter. I recall Wordsworth: "I shook the Habit, entirely and forever... and again in Nature's presence stood, as now I stand... A sensitive being, a creative soul."

Within the world of artists, Brian is known as a painter's painter. By that I mean that he is highly respected by his artistic colleagues as an artist with a noble vision, with a seriousness of purpose and an excellence of technique. For those of us like myself who are not artists or art critics, the respect and esteem in which he is held by his colleagues confirm his eminence as an artist.

True to his vision, dedicated to the refinement of his techniques, and accepting of the burdens and challenges of being an artist, Brian has earned the respect and gratitude of us all.

Enough. I invite you to partake. Often, at openings, given constraints of space and time, it is not possible to fully experience the paintings. May I suggest that you return to Kennys in order to view at your leisure. Remember also, that owning a painting of Brian's that gives you pleasure is the ultimate complement to yourself and a compliment to Brian. I declare this exhibition open. Thank you.