Laurence Kavanagh

Laurence Kavanagh’s work offers an open structure whereby the viewer encounters objects that are often almost shadows of themselves–spectral representations of the physical object completed through memory. Working in a range of materials from paper, resin, paint, graphite and print, the works often create the illusion of precarious or transient form. For example, May (McGuffin) (2013) references the cinematic device of an object which drives narrative forward but may not be of lasting significance itself. The “drinking glass” in this sculpture has the stylised look of a prop. This is a useful term–being neither functioning object nor purely a sculptural object–more an illusion of an object. The McGuffin gives way to a series of consequences or images, such as a collage of the drinking glass shattered.

Kavanagh has exhibited at venues including Marlborough Contemporary and Gerald Moore Gallery in London and the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Temple Bar in Dublin. In 2011 he was recipient of the Mostyn Open prize.

Courtesy of Marlborough Contemporary