CAG.3126 Yvonne Condon, Untitled (Hair and Eyes), undated, acrylic on cardboard, 40 x 50 cm. Purchased, the Artist with Crawford Supported Studios, 2021. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Untitled (Hair and Eyes) is a typically bold painting by Yvonne Condon.

It presents a figure with pink flesh, black outline, and intense blue eyes against an energetic grey backdrop. Additional eyes, like rollers or even fried eggs, are distributed throughout a dark mass of hair, giving the impression of a human peacock. The expression, although ambiguous, is uncompromising and direct, like the artist herself.

Yvonne Condon, who is partially sighted and hearing impaired, is a dynamic artist from East Cork. Determinedly graphic in style, she paints with acrylic on inexpensive card, using thick black outlines and mixing colour directly on the surface rather than on a palette.

The artist’s method of production is singular, fearless, and intense. She works from observation, with sitters or collected imagery from books, magazines, and photographs. In just a few minutes, she captures the essence of a person portrayed using confident graphic lines and vibrant colours – she may produce a painting in a matter of just 10 minutes!

Condon participates in Crawford Supported Studios, a long-term partnership established in 2018 between Crawford Art Gallery and MTU Crawford College of Art & Design, with ongoing support from Cork City Council. Her work is particularly well-known in Cork, where it adorns a meter box on Princes Street. She will also soon feature among the Familiar Faces, alongside Roy Keane and Fiona Shaw, at Cork Airport.

Untitled (Hair and Eyes) by Yvonne Condon is featured in BODYWORK until 20 August.

Free entry | Open daily

The Arts House: Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork. You can listen back to this week’s chat here:

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