Familiar Things: Opening John Graham in conversation with Sarah McAuliffe

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

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 is Curator of Irish Art at the National Gallery of Ireland and former Exhibitions Curator at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Dublin. She carried out her undergraduate and master’s degrees at University College Cork (UCC), 2011 – 2015, and over the past 10 years has worked in numerous roles in the museum sector, from education programming and curating 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, where she worked as a Curatorial Fellow between 2018 and 2022. Sarah offers university talks and lectures on subjects such as, the role of the curator, contemporary art, and the history of Irish photography. She worked as a guest lecturer in the History of Art department at UCC between 2018 and 2022.

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