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Billy Merwick
Some REVIEWER Comments
From Didier
Robert’s review of a 2001 Exhibition in Brussels.
“Billy Merwick is one of
those rare beings whose warm mature and poetic sensitivity, and roguish
eccentricity have an almost intoxicating effect on all that cross his path
… that he is from Ireland
comes as no surprise …”
“In this exhibition
we can see the boldness of his forms and in his choice of material, the
hand of a naïve expressionist and a primitive artist. Does this duality of
expression reflect the paradoxes which have for so long plagued his divided
island? Who knows? One thing is certain: his lines either fade into
misty nothingness or vibrate with a stunning vitality …”
“From his
pastels we can detect his theatrical background. His subtle technique and
the mastery of this medium enables him to attain perfection in bringing to
life his make-believe characters of dubious gender. Some mask-like, others
deformed and troubled – worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy. A powerful
emotion emanates from the tones and their intensity but yet remain gently,
continuous … whispered …”
“Assembled from odds
and ends, his three dimensional works confront us, staring with forged
expressions as if carved out of solid mass. They could be sketches in
relief – furtive movements snatched from the theatre of the everyday, but
more grotesque and menacing than in our wildest nightmares.”
Exhibition (2000)
“Merwick’s portrait gallery confronts us
with expressions both tragic and disturbing and sometimes tinged with the
blossom of innocence, each one unique yet with an intensity that never falters.
It is through the haunting beauty of these expressionist faces that the
artist’s powerful and multi-layered vision explodes upon his canvas…”
From ‘The Alchemist of distorted
Reality’
“Merwick’s work is steeped in history and
mythology … he illustrated Proverbs & Sayings of Ireland (Wolfhound
Press, 1974) … his wry sense of humour, fantastic animals and strange
characters are interwoven into landscapes and backgrounds of rare beauty,
creating a very powerful visual and emotional impact.”
Cultural Centre, Jacques Franck,
Brussels
Exhibition
Billy’s work “perpetuates the traditions of
Ireland in a powerful
down to earth manner and with a mixture of the cultural richness of Belgium
creates an imaginary world of fantastic personalities and of the myths and
dreams of a people in pursuit of tragedy and festivity. Using all the
elements of his art, he creates a dark mysterious theatre that is sometimes
frightening in its intensity.”
From
‘Introduction’ to exhibition at Cultural Centre, Jacques Franck, Brussels:
“… an imaginary world of fantastic
personalities and of the myths and dreams of a people in pursuit of tragedy
and festivity. Using all the elements of his art, he creates a dark
mysterious theatre that is sometimes frightening in its intensity.”
Billy was for ever high on the traditional
music of Ireland and Brittany, and also
nomadic by inclination and nature. So, when he first found himself in
Brussels, it was with an education theatre company to which he brought both
exuberance and spontaneity alongside his banjo and fiddle playing –
learned in childhood and mastered in ad-hoc performance in pub and
flat in 1960s and 1970s Dublin.
***
Billy’s new work in theme and image reflects his Irish origins but
with mix of energetic European and idiosyncratic overlays to his forms, his
colour sense and his content.
Refugee, family,
traveller; migration, manual labour
– all feature, singly and in composite, as individuals and in groups,
alongside the not so simple ‘simplicities’ of rural and urban. His naïve
and theatrical styles in many of these works blend tragedy with humour as
they spiral each other for dominance. His people are ever moving forward to
a future and carrying a past in their piercing eyes.
Memory is at the
centre of this artist’s search as he probes among people and places for the
stories he wants to tell. There is a story in every picture, told by the
artist and inviting interpretation by each viewer.
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