Dermot Seymour retrospective opens at Solstice Arts Centre

Running until 9th June at the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, is an exhibition celebrating the work of Belfast-born artist Dermot Seymour, examining the various underlying themes within his practice over the last thirty years. His paintings depict a unique commentary on recent Irish history and the contradictions of a rapidly changing society. Seymour's iconography, often realistic and stark, assaults the viewer's subconscious and lingers in the mind, to challenge and provoke. Seymour studied at the University of Ulster and is a member of Aosdána. He has exhibited widely in Europe and the USA. Over the decades, Seymour's art has explored 'the troubles', observing the political landscape and conflicting identity of Northern Ireland. His work has gone on to focus on man's inhumanity, with themes of war and politics in a wider context. The theme of surveillance persists with recurrent use of animal and familiar personages. Seamus Heaney has said of his work: 'What I admire about Seymour is that he has no designs upon me, but leaves me alone with things that are entirely persuasive in their own right, whether we regard them as ciphers for a message or just dream-images, part of a self-born phantasmagoria." (S Heaney 'Getting the picture on Dermot Seymour's painting 'The Russians will water their horses on the Shores of Lough Neagh', Dermot Seymour: Fish, Flesh and Fowl a Retrospective, page 21). Gallery opening hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-4pm. Admission free.