Joly Photographs: Red Lines 2019

The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim
16 November 2019 – 04 January 2020
Curated by Sarah Searson

This exhibition marked the first major exhibition of this body of work. The photographs are small 4×5 sheet film sized images as they comprise of the sheet film from a large format camera and a colour screen. The Joly Screen Process is not a chemical process but instead filters light on exposure and display to create colour. The screen is made up of red, green and blue stripes which Phelan then engages as installation devices on walls and windows to reference the process and a wider art history of installation. The small images have the intensity of painted miniatures, illuminated by LED panels, slowing down the viewing of a photograph as well as allowing for a unique colour shift that happens on display.

The images have nostalgic feel given muted colours and the content of this selection of work which reference historic flower paintings made in collaboration with Dunboyne Flower and Garden Club. For Phelan this is an opportunity to expand his interest in participatory practices, art making that involves working with others to expand the notion of authorship into a shared activity, one that remains unfixed and creating agency as well as new knowledge in the process.

Download essay below: Joanne Laws Arts Writer in Residence: A response to an exhibition ‘Red Lines’ Alan Phelan _JOANNE_LAWS_A_response_to_an_exhibition_Red_Lines_Alan_Phelan_(1)-min

Installation shots by Paul McCarthy