Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Kerlin Gallery presents an exhibition of new work by Samuel Laurence Cunnane.
This body of work is accompanied by a digital book which includes 'Ambiguities', a new essay by Brian Dillon,
Professor of Creative Writing at Queen Mary University of London.
The book also includes a conversation between Samuel Laurence Cunnane and fellow photographer, Dorje De Burgh.
Cunnane is a connoisseur of things that get in the way. His work is full of veils and shadows, frames and filters, impediments to sight. All of these are actual, aspects of the world he photographs, not aesthetic or conceptual distancing mechanisms added later in the darkroom.
-Brian Dillon
The Irish/ French artist Samuel Laurence Cunnane’s new work deals in large part with the idea of the outskirt, what Brian Dillon refers to as “messy peripheries, the obscure edges of distinct places, sidelong glances instead of vivid or picturesque vistas”.
The work for the most part has been made in the west of Ireland where Cunnane has used the backdrop of pebbledash, incessant damp, exotic invasive species and an ominous tone of an environmental threat to depict a world where the empty spaces on the fringes are overlooked, abandoned and increasingly contested. This idea of the outskirt is not just meant in the physical sense, such as the outskirt of a town or city, the outskirt of an economic or administrative zone but also the outskirt of our vision and consciousness. Cunnane’s photographs deal with what is on the periphery of our vision, the blind spot towards our surroundings and disconnect with the environment, and the existential unease that arises from such a blind spot.
Many of the works use cinematic techniques, be it framing, lighting or even particular ratios as a way of exploring this idea of the ‘landscape’ as pre-existing imagery in our minds inherited and projected upon the exterior world. Cunnane’s work uses analogue photographic techniques, printed by the artist. Cunnane remains highly connected to the physicality of the production process; in no small part influenced by the increasingly dematerialised nature of contemporary image making and dissemination.
Site 1
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in image size
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in framed size
SLC15119
House in morning light
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
13.7 x 19.5 cm / 5.4 x 7.7 in (image size)
32.7 x 38.5 x 3 cm / 12.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13219
Boarded Window
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
19.5 x 13.7 cm / 7.7 x 5.4 in image size
38.5 x 32.7 x 3 cm / 15.2 x 12.9 x 1.2 in framed size
SLC13019
Green river
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
22.5 x 30.6 cm / 8.9 x 12 in (image size)
45.5 x 53.6 x 3 cm / 17.9 x 21.1 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13819
Steel Rope
2018
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in (image size)
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC12118
Pebble dash
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in (image size)
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14619
Stairway
2020
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
22.5 x 30.6 cm / 8.9 x 12 in image size
45 x 53 cm / 17.7 x 20.9 in framed size
SLC15420
Mist
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
13.7 x 19.5 cm / 5.4 x 7.7 in (image size)
32.7 x 38.5 x 3 cm / 12.9 x 15.2 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13319
Mound
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in (image size)
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14519
Annina bruise
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
25.5 x 17.8 cm / 10 x 7 in (image size)
44.5 x 36.8 x 3 cm / 17.5 x 14.5 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13419
Earth
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
19.5 x 13.7 cm / 7.7 x 5.4 in image size
38.5 x 32.7 x 3 cm / 15.2 x 12.9 x 1.2 in framed size
SLC13119
Grove 2020
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
25.5 x 17.8 cm / 10 x 7 in image size
40.2 x 48 cm / 15.8 x 18.9 in framed size
SLC15620
Fox
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in image size
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in framed
SLC14419
Siobhán 1
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in (image size)
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14919
Siobhán 2
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in (image size)
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC15019
Bird Statue
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
17.8 x 25.5 cm / 7 x 10 in (image size)
36.8 x 44.5 x 3 cm / 14.5 x 17.5 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13519
Plant study 1
2018
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
25 x 37.5 cm / 9.8 x 14.8 in (image size)
48 x 60.5 x 3 cm f/ 18.9 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14118
Plant study 4
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in image size
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in framed
SLC14719
Decathlon
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
22.5 x 30.6 cm / 8.9 x 12 in (image size)
45.5 x 53.6 x 3 cm / 17.9 x 21.1 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13719
Hand print
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
22.5 x 30.6 cm / 8.9 x 12 in (image size)
45.5 x 53.6 x 3 cm / 17.9 x 21.1 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC13919
Plant study 3
2018
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
25 x 37.5 cm / 9.8 x 14.8 in (image size)
48 x 60.5 x 3 cm f/ 18.9 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14318
Plant study 2
2018
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
25 x 37.5 cm / 9.8 x 14.8 in (image size)
48 x 60.5 x 3 cm f/ 18.9 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14218
Shannon 2020
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
17.8 x 25.5 cm / 7 x 10 in image size
40.2 x 48 cm / 15.8 x 18.9 in framed size
SLC15520
Small truck burning
2020
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
17.8 x 25.5 cm / 7 x 10 in image size
36.8 x 44.5 x 3 cm / 14.5 x 17.5 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC15320
Sand
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
22.5 x 30.6 cm / 8.9 x 12 in (image size)
45.5 x 53.6 x 3 cm / 17.9 x 21.1 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14019
Seaside (little bird)
2019
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in (image size)
50.8 x 60.5 x 3 cm / 20 x 23.8 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC14819
Metal bar
2019
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition of 3 + 1AP
25.5 x 17.8 cm / 10 x 7 in (image size)
44.5 x 36.8 x 3 cm / 17.5 x 14.5 x 1.2 in (framed size)
SLC15219
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
a new e-book with 'Ambiguities', a new essay by Brian Dillon,
Professor of Creative Writing at Queen Mary University of London.
The book also includes a conversation between
Samuel Laurence Cunnane and fellow photographer and friend Dorje De Burgh.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane & Dorje de Burgh
Samuel Laurence Cunnane lives and works in Co. Kerry, Ireland
Recent solo exhibitions include Boxes Museum of Art, Shunde, China (2018); Öktem Aykut, Istanbul (2017); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2016); THEODORE:Art, New York and Kerlin Gallery (both 2015). Projects and group exhibitions include Fortnightly Features Presents, Kerlin Gallery (2014); the screening Portfolio, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France (2012); Listen, Block T, Dublin (2011); and The Invisible City, The Joinery, Dublin (2009).
In 2012, Cunnane worked in the Maysles Documentary Centre in New York, spending time alongside its founder, the celebrated American filmmaker Albert Maysles, to hand print his collection of documentary photographs.