Exhibition continues until 27th May 2006

Brendan Earley's exhibition "Towards a large white building" at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios reflects the artist's ongoing fascination with the modernist tradition. An earlier presentation by him as part of a two-person show at Temple Bar Gallery in 2004 made both a poignant and provocative comment on the aspirations and failures of the movement that transformed twentieth century art and architecture. "Towards a large white building" is a further development of Earley's reflections on architecture, urbanism and common geographies. The exhibition weaves together the two main strands of Earley's current practice; finely detailed marker drawings provide a context for his constructions, sometimes akin to architectural models these become personalised by Earley's distinctive 'needs must' aesthetic.

His approach to drawing is surprisingly systematic and careful in view of the overall blurred final effect. Applying rigorous classification to the markers, including notes on levels of ink at various stages, Earley achieves an exceptional tonal range using only black and white. The drawings of an observation tower set in a forest, while they appear generic are quite specific to Loughkey Forest Park, County Roscommon. Compositionally, the architectural details, so dramatically focused, ask to be fully imagined. The concrete tower, a particular instance of the modernist project, may appear at odds with its rural environment until one remembers that state sponsored forestation was introduced to Ireland in the seventies. The interplay between these two elements - the constructed wooded landscape and the purposeful position from which to view it - reflects Earley's interest in local manifestations of the international style. Considered from the perspective of nostalgia (with Loughkey being a place of Earley's childhood holidays) and in the wider context, the drawings evoke the longing expressed for the modernist project.

Earley's sculptures appear less crafted but great care has been taken in assembling these rough constructions made from building debris, cheap technology and mass-produced industrial materials such as polystyrene, chipboard and formica. Earley's "make-do" models seem to eschew any allusion to the perfectionism associated with high-modernism, the oblique reference point remains however; in this case the source for Earley's play with modularisation is the RTE Admissions Building designed by Michael Scott in 1962. Elsewhere, while applying retro types of technology to his practice, and subtly introducing a sound element that also counterpoints the co-existence of high and low culture, Earley continues to reference the recent past. The vocabulary he uses to articulate his entirely idiosyncratic vision of the present stasis of modernism is brash, irreverent, even 'street' but the grammar and rhythm of Earley's work still harks back to essential principles.

Brendan Earley (b.1971) lives and works in Dublin. After graduating from NCAD with first class honours he spent several years travelling before wining the Fulbright scholarship to attend Hunter College, New York City. Earley graduated with a Master in Fine Art in 1999 and returned to Dublin where he now exhibits regularly. Past exhibitions include "Scope 2", Artists Space New York, "Prix Ars Electronica", Austria, "Perspective" Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast and Eurojet Futures at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. Brendan Earley is currently studying for his PhD at the National College of Art and Design. "Towards a large white building" is Earley's first solo-exhibition in Dublin.