Exhibition Announcement | Residues of The Garden of Eden
- The Complex
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Location: The Gallery at The Complex, 21 Arran Street East, Dublin 7, D07YY97
Preview: 19 Sept, 6-8 pm
Exhibition Run: 20 Sept - 3 Oct
Hours: 10am-5pm Mon-Fri, 12-5pm Sat
Tickets: Free entry, no booking required
Residues of The Garden of Eden at The Complex brings together the work of Joanne Reid and Ben Weir, curated by Mark O’Gorman and Debi Paul. Mark and Debi have been working closely on the exhibition since they proposed the collaboration in 2022, whereupon the artists became bound through their instinctive conversations. As it progressed, the contrast in scale between the artist’s work, along with a shared sensitivity and a refined sculptural language, through the use of industrial materials such as steel, wood, and concrete, made the connection apparent.
A central point of dialogue that emerged between the artists in relation to The Complex site and its surrounding environment gravitated towards a focal point that was the Garden of Eden – not only the biblical paradise described in the Book of Genesis, but also the (later inspired) formal walled gardens of aristocratic estates. The Garden of Eden has acted as a central node from which other enquiries branched out, among them the Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Market, currently under renovation and adjacent to The Complex in Smithfield, with its richly ornate terracotta castings of lobsters, turnips, and other produce, sequenced uniformly across its exterior. It also embraced the materials and packaging methods used daily by the vendors with their cardboard boxes filled with vegetables, arranged on the roadside, stacked on pallets and wrapped in plastic, displaying an unintentional harmony of form, colour, and gesture.
As conversations between the artists and curators developed, the concept of the wall in relation to the garden became foundational, raising the notion of designed boundaries that interrogate tensions between inside and outside, wild and tamed, safety and danger, class structures, and the demarcation of land and communities. The artist's research led them to another local site of discovery, St. Mary's Abbey, founded in 1139 and once one of the largest and most significant medieval monasteries in Ireland. Ben came across a map illustrating the historic parish boundary of St. Mary’s and revealed that whilst the Abbey ceased to function as such after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1541, the area north of the Liffey continued to be served by St. Michan’s. It was not until 1698 that St. Mary’s parish was formally established, separating it from St. Michan’s, the boundary of which appears to cut diagonally through the exhibition space at The Complex, creating yet another layer of spatial and historical division which will inform Ben’s installation.
According to Joanne’s research, it was rumoured that an Abbot once covered the leaf mouldings on the ceiling of the Abbey’s Chapter House to prevent the monks working there from becoming distracted, or ultimately seduced by the beauty of nature. This detail resonates with discussions around walled gardens, the Garden of Eden, and the idea of temptation. Joanne references Albrecht Dürer’s Adam and Eve as a key image in her research, in which the biblical figures are shown with fig leaves covering their genitals, symbolising their poignant shame; and at the same time, the branch depicted possesses a certain delicacy. From the fig leaf to the reverent cauliflower leaf, and how it is trimmed for wholesale distribution, to the leaf patterns found on recently unearthed medieval tiles from St Mary’s Abbey, the leaf continues to be a unifying motif in Joanne’s work for the exhibition.
As the exhibition approaches, playful conversations and formative site visits have taken place at locations such as The Wonderful Barn, Fire Station Artists’ Studios, the Leixlip Spa, St. Mary’s Abbey, Chapter House and various construction/archaeological sites surrounding The Complex. Boundary walls were scaled or peeked over as they encouraged each other to discover. Residues from different periods of the Gallery site’s history proliferate through their conversations, calling to attention other sites of interest and moments in art history. These outings have informed a flourishing dialogue and a relationship between the artists and curators, laying lines between and marking out in increments their thoughts and speculations.
I (Joanne Reid) am a visual artist working in sculpture. My work often begins as a direct response to encounters with the materials, objects and spaces that form our built environment. While my work draws mainly on an engagement with everyday urban contexts, there are also art historical references in the work. My most recent work plays with a merging of forms from the natural and the built world. Select exhibitions include, Thresholds to the Unseen, Solstice Arts Centre (2024), Sample Set, Open Studio, Studio 1, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin (2023), Home Bodies, Glandwr, Chapelizod, Dublin (2021), ARTWORKS: Dearly Beloved, Visual Carlow (2019), Futures, Series 3, Episode 2, RHA, Dublin (2018) and the RDS Visual Art Awards (2016). I was awarded the Draíocht Artist Studio Residency Award (2024,2023) and the Fingal RHA Studio Residency (2021). I am a recipient of the Arts Council Visual Arts Bursary Award (2023, 2022, 2020), Agility Award (2021) and the Fingal Artists’ Support Scheme (2022-2025)
I (Ben Weir *1991, Belfast) work within the discipline (as opposed to the profession) of architecture. I draw, write, research and build. I work to uncover hidden spatial and material potentials. I generate projects through the survey of existing conditions, a process that invents as much as records. I dissect, re-present and interrogate existing urban artefacts, seeking to express their current condition, situation, or relationship to us. I insert new objects into this milieu, always seeking a positive contribution to a diverse, equitable and complex environment. A graduate of Ulster University (2013) and the Glasgow School of Art (2015), I have since participated in several residencies across Europe. I write in many different forms, with a forthcoming book, Screams from the Trees: Notes on Hermitages in Ulster, due to be published soon. I am based between Belfast and the Netherlands.
I (Debi Paul Ireland) am a visual artist and curator; my practice is rooted in both performance and place, with a focus on the body. I often draw on / learn from site–responsive communities of interest. My work observes the connection between practice and philosophy and ideas that relate to the material world. Current practice research focuses on ‘the sensate’ ritual and elements of magic realism. Recent projects include Living Balance, Blackchurch Print Studio/ The Library Project 2022; Stains, Ella De Burca, Glandwr 2023; Only Two Hands, Fiona Reilly, Glandwr, 2024; you could feel the tension leaving their body, Eva Vēvere, Temple Bar Gallery + Studio’s Freespace Programme, 2024; Sentients, Tanad Aaron, Sara Baume, Caoimhe Kilfeather and Aleana Egan, Florian Weichsberger, Alte-Westend-Apothēke, Bavaria.
Text by Mark O’Gorman and Debi Paul.
Proudly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Fingal Arts Office, and Dublin City Council.
