Mahali O’Hare’s paintings are small. They are of a size that makes every minute detail of vital importance; from the depth of the stretcher to the edge and fold of the canvas. The way in which they are hung in the space does not instruct a narrative but it is difficult to resist building one’s own. The images seem to have been painted somewhere beneath the surface of the paint. O’Hare is sparing with her information yet we know that each work has emerged from photography, not the large glamorous silky image but the slightly dog eared photograph that might be found in the pages of an old book or at the back of a drawer. O’Hare’s paintings depict a certain way that we might remember things, distant yet intimate. They are mundane moments, from a camping holiday, a house remembered from long ago or a school photograph. There is a suggestion of autobiography but this is not the case, these paintings work together to create a sense or atmosphere of memory rather than seeking to illustrate ‘true’ memories of a particular individual. The suggestiveness with which they are painted brings to mind a landscape that is between urban and rural; scrubland between roads, the grubby desperate nature that is almost wasteland.
Kindling Wood is a Spike Island commission. Mahali O’Hare was the first recipient of the Rootstein Hopkins Award
Link to this year's recipient of the Rootstein Hopkins Award
