Sean Cotter: Memorate
Exhibition Runs: 1 July – 6 August 2011
Memorate, Latin memoratus, past participle of memorare (to bring
to remembrance, mention, recount) to commemorate
Sean Cotter is at foremost an exciting painter. His paintings are partly imagined, observed and felt. There are strong reflections of mood, of an inner turmoil or tranquility. There is an intense energy visible in the dense pattern of birds in flight in his compressed charcoal drawings. The paintings acknowledge the energy of nature and an exploration of planes of colour and media, sometimes pushing back and obscuring, and sometimes revealing potential images and associations as they arise, fabricating a special space which belongs to painting.
“His approach to his work is both intuitive and expressionist. Whether his medium is a combination of charcoal and inks or oil on canvas he drips, pours, and splatters marks on to his paper and canvas grounds but always retaining a figurative dimension. Whether the black forms that swarm around the edges of such works as Sky Writings are birds or clods of earth thrown up by some apocalyptic event is not important. What is important is that they represent a vortex of movement in the landscape…that is packed with an emotional charge, causing us to think more profoundly about the future of our planet and our place within it.”
Catherine Marshall, 2008
Sean Cotter was born in Monasterevin, County Kildare. He studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, graduating in 1991 with an honours degree in Fine Art Painting. Involved in over 32 group exhibitions throughout Europe since 1991, his work can be found in international and Irish public collections; Lapua Arts and Science Foundation, Finland, Lapua Taidemuseo, Finland, Anglo Irish Bank, London, Aviva Investors, London, OPW Collections and Kildare, Louth and Wicklow County Councils among others.
