‘Not somewhere else but here’ an exhibition of work by Wexford artist Serena Caulfield

Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford, Y35 X5HF

14 February – 23 March 2023

Gallery open: Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm / Sat, 10am-4pm

Wexford Arts Centre is pleased to present Not somewhere else but here, an exhibition of new paintings by artist Serena Caulfield. The exhibition will run in the lower and upper galleries from Tuesday 14 February to Thursday 23 March, 2023.

Serena Caulfield was selected to take part in the MAKE/Curate programme; a partnership initiative between Wexford Arts Centre and the Arts Department of Wexford County Council. The aim of the programme is to provide artists working regionally with an opportunity to work with national curators to critique their practice and introduce other areas of interest. Over the course of two years, Caulfield worked with Curators Marysia Wieckiewicz-Carroll and Cliodhna Shaffrey toward her solo exhibition at Wexford Arts Centre. Distinct from the curatorial support, mentorship was also facilitated by artist Sinead Ni Mhaonaigh.

Not somewhere else but here is a line taken from Adrienne Rich’s poem What Kind of Times Are These. The poem deals with uncertain and dangerous times but more importantly, its message is the responsibility to speak out against injustice and to listen when we hear others doing the same. Caulfield felt that it was all too appropriate for our current climate, despite being written nearly thirty years ago. This repurposing of the established is one of the most inventive and engaging features of her work.

Caulfield blends the traditionally patriarchal field of classical art with a fresh, current approach and a distinctly feminine vantage point. Her work includes re-imaginings of many classical artists’ works, including Jan Brueghel the elder, Frans Snyders, and Eugene Delacroix. A subject that arises through this referencing, is memory and specifically the gradual distortion of memory. A number of paintings provoke a sense of déjà and viewing the work can feel like straining for a childhood memory that you can only recall in broken, faceless fragments with key elements missing. The fallibility of memory is given a dreamlike quality through Caulfield’s inclusion of local myths and the landscape of her home in County Wexford. The depiction of animals with night-time backdrops in particular, have an ethereal quality often found through dream or warped recollection.

Along with contemplating the reliability of human memory, comes the challenge to our notion of linear time. The reference to classical paintings contradicts the usual straightforward conception we have of development. Blending past and present together with such dexterity, Caulfield’s works show that art can transcend and be adapted beyond both time and gender. As the artist states; “My sources range from classical artworks to children’s drawing books, aural histories to local myths. Disobeying a linear art history while reclaiming it somehow in the present, I repurpose art history to play with its power, both visually and conceptually, imbuing the anachronisms of the past with the attitudes of the present.”

Not somewhere else but here will run at Wexford Arts Centre from Tuesday 14 February to Thursday 23 March 2023. The exhibition is supported by the Arts Department of Wexford County Council in partnership with Wexford Arts Centre through the Make/Curate Programme.

Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford

Tel: +353 (0)53 912 3674 Email: info@wexfordartscentre.ie Web: www.wexfordartscentre.ie

Wexford Arts Centre is supported by the Arts Council and Wexford County Council.

For further information on the exhibition or artist Serena Caulfield please contact Catherine Bowe - Curator, Wexford Arts Centre, email catherine@wexfordartscentre.ie n