Richard Gorman
Kerlin Gallery is pleased to present Japan,
an exhibition of handmade works on paper by Richard Gorman.
Richard Gorman at Iwano paper factory in Echizen, western Japan, 1990s.
Japan presents over two decades of Richard Gorman’s celebrated works on paper, focusing on the motif of the circle.
For over thirty years, Gorman has been visiting Echizen, a mountainous region of Japan, to handcraft washi paper alongside the skilled artisans of the family-run Iwano Heizaburo paper mill. The mill uses a traditional technique in which kōzo (mulberry) pulp is boiled, beaten, then set in sukibune trays, before being pressed and dried. In some of Gorman’s works, gouache is applied to the surface of the finished paper; for others, Gorman developed a process in which dye is soaked directly into the pulp then shaped in moulds, allowing for a deeper saturation of colour. In both instances, Gorman’s bold, elemental forms enter a playful tension with the tactile, organic texture of the paper.
Untitled 6, 2015
dye on handmade Echizen kozo washi paper
100 x 107 cm / 39.4 x 42.1 in
The circle, often a symbol of perfection and symmetry in nature, is joyfully interrupted by this process: porous forms overlap, drip, and bleed into one another, suggesting a kind of mutability. Japan includes two All Wall installations, assemblages of up to 40 works on paper first shown at Gorman’s pivotal 2014 solo exhibition KIN at The MAC, Belfast. Presented here in an adapted restaging, these modular works present off-kilter repetitions of circular forms in asymmetric arrangements, devised with Gorman’s intuitive approach to create rhythm, movement and flow.
selected works
about the artist
Richard Gorman in the studio, Milan, 1980s
Richard Gorman
b. 1946, Dublin. Lives and works in Dublin
A gifted colourist, Richard Gorman is best-known for his paintings and works on paper exploring the dynamic interplay between geometric forms. His works on paper offer a delicate counterpoint to his more robust oils on canvas, but both strands of Gorman’s practice draw their power from the compositional tension between boldly simplified blocks of colour.
KIN, 2014
The MAC, Belfast
Gorman’s work has been exhibited at The Drawing Centre, New York; Berkeley Art Museum, California; Barbican Centre, London; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Mitaka City Gallery of Art and Ashikaga City Museum of Art in Japan; The MAC, Belfast; the Irish Museum of Modern Art and Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin; Limerick City Gallery of Art; and Castletown House, Co. Kildare, Ireland. Recent solo exhibitions include Living through Paint(ing), The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin (2023), travelling to Villa Croce & Museum Chiossone, Genoa (2024); and Emotional Geometry, Chigasaki Museum, Japan (2019). Gorman’s work is represented in the collections of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; Crawford Art Gallery, Cork; Josef and Anni Albers Foundation; Koriyama City Museum of Art, Japan; Centre of Contemporary Graphic Art, Fukushima, Japan and New York Public Library.