NO:TIME by Martin Boyle
02 September- 03 October 2020
Ideas of Euphoric Romanticism advocated our decentralised position in the universe and looked for ways to express a deeper unknowable reality behind what can be perceived. Those of us whose imaginations have been captivated by the immensity of what lies beyond our ability to grasp is captivated by the Romantic impulse. As scientific enquiry fails to fully construct a complete picture of nature, as theories of everything continue to fail, its a reminder that things are hidden from us and we don’t have access to what reality may be really like.
The conceptual work in the exhibition takes something simple and straightforward like our linear human perception of time by peeling back the surface in search of an incomprehensible reality underneath. The works presented use different concepts and speculative theories of time which do not cohere, creating an instability that embraces complexity, gaps, darkness. In this uncertain place, with no particular vision of truth, he focuses on experiences that are shareable often exploring a search for the transformative and the transcendent.
In this time, there is a feeling that attitudes are narrowing, turning rigid, inward, hostile. Through wonder, the work questions a delusion of our self-importance by way of the universe and an acknowledgement that we are not the centre, or on top of everything.
Boyle (b.1982, Donegal, Ireland) lives and works in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed a Masters of Fine Art in 2008 at the University Of Ulster, Belfast, and a BA in Sculpture from the Limerick School of Art and Design. He works across many different mediums his conceptual art includes installation, sculpture, photography, video, and site-specific pieces. Influenced by ideas of uncertainty expressed in both euphoric and dark Romanticism, he explores a complex and contradictory range of human emotions and thoughts, by emphasising a tension between order- chaos, man-nature, idealised-reality.
Recent Solo exhibitions include “Snap!”, Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda, Ireland (2016); Human body’ accident, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2015); Everyting’s Connected, Art Centre Ongoing, Tokyo, Japan (2014); Genuine Replica, Ulster Museum, Belfast (2013). Recent group exhibitions include MAW, Middlesbrough, UK (2018); ART WORKS, VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow, Ireland (2017); Future Artist-Makers, Nerve Visual Gallery, Derry (2017); These Days are Persistent and Changeable, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2016); Diagrams, Pallas Projects, Dublin (2015); Out in the Open, Household Collective, Belfast (2015), Existence of flamethrowers in your street, G126, Galway, Ireland (2015); Scope Art Fair, New York (2013); Instances of Agreement, Kao Yuan Arts Centre, Taiwan (2012).
This exhibition is part of the ACES Award with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
