Rapid Eye Movement:
Mark Garry, Eoin Mc Hugh, Risa Sato

Preview: Tuesday 17th July, 6pm - 8pm
Exhibition continues until 25th August

The summer exhibition at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios’, entitled Rapid Eye Movement, seduces the viewer into the illusive world of dreams. The exhibition comprises new work by two emerging Irish artists, Mark Garry and Eoin Mc Hugh, and Japanese artist Risa Sato. Rapid Eye Movement includes drawing and installation and is on view at Temple Bar Gallery from 18th July until 25th August.

Thematically, the three artists in the exhibition were invited to explore the fragile and subliminal world of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. Discovered by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky in 1953, REM is a stage of sleep when dreams are most lucid. During this time, thoughts and experience become suspended in a timeless puzzle with the potential to fit together in a myriad of ways. The “dream-state” produces rich vivid imagery and emotional content, where smooth transitions through tight narratives vie with non-linear and chance associations.

Risa Sato, one of Japan's leading contemporary artists, uses drawing, installation, and performance in her highly individualised style of art activity, entitled Risa Campaign. The unsettling amoebic-like creatures, which appear in her work, give a physical presence to the artist’s need for support and comfort in daily life. For the exhibition, Sato presents a series of her drawings featuring the small anthropomorphic motif, named Kohachi. Sato has also constructed an enormous inflated Kohachi in parachute silk for the gallery; this strange subliminal figure challenges viewers to recall stories from their own imagination.

Central to Eoin Mc Hugh’s practice is a profound interest in the psychology of imagery. McHugh’s drawings are imbued with a freedom of meaning. The works depict time suspended, when sequence and meaning collapse into ambiguously defined narratives. Potential leitmotifs provide a framework in which people can orient themselves without privileging meaning. Through a process of paraphrasing, elaborating, clarifying and editing, a sequential narrative has developed in Mc Hugh’s work; this focuses on thought processes and the patterning of ideas.

There is an intuitive quality to Mark Garry’s piece for Rapid Eye Movement that offers a subjective interpretation of what occurs during synaptic transmission. In revisiting an earlier work, entitled One Thought (2004), Garry suspends the notion of prequel and sequel in terms of exploration. In considering the concept of this exhibition, Garry was compelled by the notion that one of the functions of sleep is to revisit occurrences from one’s waking hours and make sense of these happenings. Subsequently, Garry invited reflective understanding into his own practice; One Thought Revisited explores how the meaning and ones emotional understanding of an artwork changes over time, and develops truth in its own right.

About the artists:

Born in Tokyo, Risa Sato, (b. 1972) was awarded her M.F.A. by Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her works are noted for their unique communicative approaches. With a practice that ranges from drawing through to large scale public sculpture, Risa has exhibited in Japan, New York, and Paris, with participation in group shows in Europe, Asia and the United States. She currently lives and works in Tokyo.

Born in Dublin 1977, Eoin Mc Hugh’s recent exhibitions include: Visual Fictions, Fenton Gallery, Cork '07, The Square Root of Drawing, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin, '06, Drawings: Eoin Mc Hugh, MA Visual Art Practices, Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin, '06, EV+A 2006 - give (a) way, Bourn Vincent Gallery, Limerick, '06, Precaution, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, '05. Eoin currently occupies a project studio at Temple Gallery and Studios.

Mark Garry (b. 1972) is a Dublin based artist, curator and occasional musician. Over the past number of years he has developed both installation and film practices. Mark has had a number of notable Irish and International exhibition opportunities and was one of the artists that represented The Republic of Ireland at the 2005 Venice Biennial. Mark currently occupies a three-year membership studio at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios.

For further information or to request high-res images for publication please contact nkelly@templebargallery.com or t. + 353 1 671 0073.

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