Familiar Things - John Graham In Conversation with Sarah McAuliffe

Join us for the opening of John Graham's exhibition Familiar Things.

Saturday 16th November

To mark the opening, John Graham is in conversation with Sarah McAuliffe, Curator of Irish Art at the National Gallery of Ireland.
The exhibition is open to view from 3pm, the informal gallery talk taking place from 3.20pm
This talk will be (ISL )Irish Sign Language Interpreted.
Tea, Coffee & Prosecco will be served.

This is a standing event with seating offered to those with any additional needs.

John Graham makes drawings and prints by repeating ruled lines through various processes and configurations. Colour in his drawings is muted or relatively vibrant, determined by materials – graphite or acrylic ink – and how they are layered and sequenced. Recent etchings, printed in black, are folded and presented with purpose made supports. In earlier etchings and carborundum prints, his lines are more overtly gestural. Though abstract, the repetition of forms in his work relates to aspects of music, architecture and design. These connections are sometimes emphasized by how works are framed, grouped or otherwise presented.

Familiar Things accounts for the familiar in different ways. The proximity of line is important, how lines are amplified by repetition to achieve the attribute of presence. The exhibition of new works is joined by examples of older ones, so that continuity, difference and future developments can be encountered and anticipated in this fuller context. John understands his practice as an ongoing activity, a way of living that includes the making of discrete objects for display. Beyond material specificity, these works locate meaning within daily routines, the forms and repetitions of everyday life.Familiarity is also expressed as a quality of duration; things become familiar, as elements within individual works and as a body of different works appearing over time.

ABOUT

John Graham makes drawings and prints by repeating ruled lines through various processes and configurations. Colour in his drawings is muted or relatively vibrant, determined by materials – graphite or acrylic ink – and how they are layered and sequenced. Recent etchings, printed in black, are folded and presented with purpose made supports. In earlier etchings and carborundum prints, his lines are more overtly gestural. Though abstract, the repetition of forms in his work relates to aspects of music, architecture and design. These connections are sometimes emphasized by how works are framed, grouped or otherwise presented.

Sarah McAuliffe has recently joined the National Gallery of Ireland as Curator of Irish Art Post 1900, where she will research, interpret, acquire and display modern and contemporary Irish art. Prior to this, Sarah was the Curator at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Dublin, where she worked closely with contemporary artists across the country and curated multiple exhibitions, including Jennifer Trouton: In Plain Sight, Zsolt Basti: Half Shy, John Graham: Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past, Debbie Castro: Age is A Privilege, Unless You Forget! and Kwok Tsui: Border/Sky. Sarah carried out her undergraduate and master’s degrees at University College Cork and over the past 10 years has worked in numerous roles in the museum sector, from curating and education programming to marketing and fundraising. Her expertise in Irish and international photography prompted the establishment of a collection of photography for the National Gallery of Ireland, during her time there as Curatorial Fellow between 2018 and 2022. Sarah worked as a guest lecturer in the History of Art Department at University College Cork between 2018 and 2022. In addition to working with public collections, she researches and sources artworks for private collectors.

Host or Publisher Highlanes Gallery