The Kerlin Gallery is very pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Brian Maguire.

In this, his first solo exhibition in the Kerlin Gallery for five years Brian Maguire continues his genuine and highly personal exploration of the human condition and on this particular occasion its shaping by the social and political structure of contemporary America.

Earlier this year Maguire travelled to New York to work as artist in residence in two Correctional Centres. At the same time he embarked upon a series of paintings that were directly born out of his experience of this particular city. These paintings, with their fierce gesture and colour and extremely sensitive drawing present us with an intelligent hybrid of painting and a serious investigation into systems of power and conditions of alienation. Brian's project with male and female prisoners in Chelsea and Staten Island will form the basis of an exhibition of his work at White Box, New York in spring 2002. That body of work will extend to public spaces with a series of billboards in specific locations in Manhattan.

Maguire represented Ireland at the 1998 Sao Paulo Biennial resulting in what has perhaps become his best-known work, 'Casa de Cultura', a provocative and humane interaction with the inhabitants of the city's favela and prisons. This work is currently on view at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Maguire exhibits widely throughout Europe, Japan and the Americas. A major exhibition of his work took place at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery, Dublin and travelled to the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX in 2000 and the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork in 2001. Among the many collections, both public and private, in which he is represented are those of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Alvar Aalto Museum, Finland, the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, Netherlands and the Collection of Ed & Nancy Kienholz.