Process Room 16.05.09- 01.06.09

Eithne Jordan’s most recent body of work looks at the contemporary urban environment. She is drawn to anonymous spaces, the side areas, factory roofs, subway tunnels, underpasses, and blank walls; those non-places that are forgotten sites in cities such as Paris, Rotterdam, Berlin and Vienna.

Jordan uses photography as an integral part of the process of generating the imagery, taking hundreds of photographs on working trips to various cities.  Back in the studio decisions about the imagery and the composition are then made through a process of selecting and cropping, leading to the small gouaches and later the oil paintings.

Within the spaces depicted, although evidence of human habitation is everywhere (as in a lit window or a passing car), an explicit human presence is rare. There is a melancholy vacancy to most of the scenes.  This is accentuated by Jordan’s treatment of the nuances of light and weather: the darkness of a February afternoon; the reflected light of a fresh snowfall, or the distinctive hue of halogen street lights. There is a suggested possibility of narrative but the spaces, the light and the objects themselves are the central actors of the drama so narrative never prevails.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Rubicon Gallery, Dublin 2007; West Cork Arts Centre, 2007; Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, 2007, and Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, 2004.  Selected group exhibitions include: Fenton Gallery, Cork 2008; ARCO, Madrid 2008 & 2009; Art Rotterdam 2007, and Pulse Art Fair, New York, 2007.  Eithne Jordan is a member of Aosdana.  Further information about her work can be found at www.rubicongallery.ie

For a printable version of this information please download the following document Eithne Jordan: The Process Room (Word doc 2000 – 1.02MB)

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