Jeune Femme (2005) Painting by Kim Mc Elhinney

Kim Mc Elhinney
The Lay of the Land

My work concentrates specifically on the rural landscape of Donegal. I have been considering not just the landscape visible to the naked eye but also what lies beneath; viewing the structure of the land and from a physical, geological perspective. My work is a culmination of semi-abstract landscape. I am interested in some form of representation, yet am equally interested in the subjective aspect of painting; the application of paint, and the balance of colour, line and composition. The muted colours are fitting to the fields and bogs of Donegal; while simultaneously echoing a kind of melancholy at the destruction of natural landscape. I am influenced by traditional Chinese paintings; whose compositions reveal a world composed of opposing and complimentary forces. I admire the works of Picasso and Miró and Frankenthaler, whose art ignited my interest in a unique perspective. My work is also influenced by the words of Irish poet, Seamus Heaney. In his poem ‘Bogland’ he notes;

“Our pioneers keep striking inwards and downwards,
Every layer they strip seems camped on before.”

I rarely start with a definitive plan for my work; an idea will spark through experimentation. Rather than recreating a landscape, I am more interested in capturing its essence, history, memory; it’s veracity. The concept of stripping the layers off the land to reveal its history interests me. Ultimately, each artwork aims to capture some fragment of land, until the series of work unites to express its deepest essence.

• Nationality: IRELAND
• Date of birth : 1985
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Irish Artists