EVERYBODY KNOWS

The Complex Ground Floor Gallery presents Everybody Knows, an exhibition that brings together the works of artists Paul Hallahan and Marcel Vidal. 

Opening on the 5th December 2020, this is the first time the artists have created an exhibition together, presenting painting works by Hallahan and a sculptural work by Vidal. The artists have been interested in The Complex's Ground Floor Gallery since discovering it in 2019 prior to its renovations. The history of this industrial heart of Dublin and its location above what was St. Mary's Abbey fuelled the artists conversations over the last 18 months. Through political, environmental and domestic circumstances, the artists consider not only the past and the present, but also possible futures we may arrive at.

The exhibition takes its title from the 1988 Leonard Cohen song of the same name. Both artists are previous winners of the Golden Fleece Award, Hallahan in 2018 and Vidal in 2019.

The exhibition runs until 18th December and is open Monday - Friday 10am - 5pm, Saturday 12 - 5pm. Follow The Complex on Instagram and Facebook for opening hour updates and online content related to the exhibition. 

Paul Hallahan is an artist whose work is primarily based in painting, sculpture and video. Interests within his work expand into many areas but commonly focus on how we as a species relate and interact with nature, taking art as a form or by-product of nature and our civilization. In 2019 he presented his first solo exhibition with Berlin Opticians Gallery titled Tone as is. He has exhibited widely over the past ten years and in 2018 he won the Golden Fleece Award. In recent years he had solo exhibitions at the Roscommon Arts Centre, Royal Hibernian Academy, and The Lab (Dublin). In 2019 he was part of a two-person exhibition with artist Lee Welch in the Lexicon Gallery Dublin, and also Garter Lane Gallery Waterford, Sternview Gallery Cork, Platform Arts Belfast. His work is part of the collections of The Irish Arts Council, DLR County Council, Industrial Development Agency Ireland (IDA), Trinity College Dublin, The Office of Public Works (OPW), Waterford City Collection and numerous private collections.

Hallahan is represented by Berlin Opticians Gallery

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Hallahan is recipient of the Kildare Artists Bursary 2020 and The Arts Council of Ireland's Visual Art Bursary 2020.

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paulhallahan.com

Marcel Vidal makes paintings and sculptures. Quietly disarming and unsettling us with an ominous beauty, Vidal’s paintings are marked by their controlled brushwork, layering oil on linen with delicacy and precision. They are refined and restrained, incarnating brightly lit fragments of photographs or digital images: unidentified figures seem caught by flashbulbs, and hold their arms in defensive barriers; glossy foliage catches the light before retreating into darkness; distinguished hands are frozen mid-clap.  Vidal’s sculptures, meanwhile, encompass contrasting and combative textures and materials: furs, feathers or deer hooves mixed with assembled wood, concrete or industrial metal hardware. Chains, spikes and pest-prevention devices are rigged up for attack or defense, echoing the hostility of urban space and inner-city infrastructure.

Marcel’s work was recently purchased for the Arts Council of Ireland Collection and he is a recipient of a Fire Station Artist Residential Studio (2020), The RHA Hennessy Craig Award for painting (2019); Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Award (2019) and The Golden Fleece Main Award for Visual Art (2019). He features in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow, Authored by Kurt Beers published by Thames & Hudson, UK (2019). Recent solo exhibition: SILVERFISH The Dock Arts, Carrick on Shannon (2018). Selected group exhibitions include: Hennessy Craig Award, Royal Hibernian Academy, Ireland (2019); Zurich Portrait Prize, National Gallery of Ireland (2019); Syntonic State, Tulca, Galway(2018) and WHITE NOISE, FUTURES, RHA (2018) 

Vidal is represented by Kerlin Gallery

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Vidal is recipient of the Wicklow Artists Bursary 2019/20 and The Arts Council of Ireland's Visual Art Bursary 2020

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https://www.marcelvidal.net/

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