Featured Artist
Jonny McKerr
Artistic Discipline: Fine Art
Current themes: My paintings are a mix of figurative- (photo-realism) and abstract as it suits the theme I am exploring which is a question of the real. What is it? And can the viewer be taken somewhere else by twisting the reality of the image presented.
Influences: I have recently travelled to Florence and Rome and I guess the old masters of sculpture and painting would be my biggest influence at the minute, but I would not be trying to recreate these and my work, I would hope, would be taking what I’ve seen to the next level, or my own level.
More contemporary influences would be Kippenberger, Anselm Kiefer, Chris Ofili, Chuck Close and Gary Hume to name but a few. But I am more influenced by my own experiences, media and culture that surrounds me.
Most recent work: I am currently working at the ARTSPACE studio at Oxford Island on a number of large scale paintings, and I have been here for the past year on a short term residency. I have really enjoyed the space and atmosphere as a few other artists work from here.
During the past year I have ventured into sculpture and digital manipulation, the latter being a big part of my painting practice. Working with wax in a process of casting only recently rediscovered, I made three “Seagoe Bells” which were a re-working of an 1100 year old bell found in the area. They were then cast in bronze.
While exploring the idea of ‘living furniture’ in 2008, I was commissioned to create a grass armchair for the Midsummer’s Dream Festival. This piece is still on display in Lurgan Park and made a second festival appearance with Parklife in 2009. More recently I was asked to create a Green Balloon for the Cbeebies children’s channel which was made with willow and was featured on the show when they visited Oxford Island during the summer.
To make ends meet and to give me time and space to make my own work I have been teaching painting to community groups in the borough (and facilitating various other art and craft classes). Participants have varied from an over 50’s Women’s Painting Group, to teenage and younger. I facilitated a large scale mural which was installed on a gable wall in Drumbeg, Craigavon and the class age averaged about 12 so I was extremely impressed with their hard work and the outcome of the project.
Advice: I would just like to encourage anyone reading this to keep cracking away and keep making art and never give up.
Lurgan based artist, Jonny McKerr is currently one of the Artists in Residence at the Artspace studio at Oxford Island.
He will be displaying his most recent work in an exhibition later this year, details on this to follow.
If you have any queries about his work you can contact him on jonnymckerr@rocketmail.com or alternatively telephone the Artspace on 028 38328013.
