Melanie O'Rourke is an Irish painter currently living and working in London. In 2006 she graduated from Chelsea College of Art and Design with a postgraduate diploma in Fine Art. In 2000 she was awarded a BA Hons from Limerick School of Art and Design. She has held four solo exhibitions: The Stables Gallery, London (forthcoming); 'Up the Walls', The Dock Arts Centre, Leitrim (2007); Kilkenny Arts Festival, various venues in Kilkenny (2005); Limerick Printmakers (2005). Selected group exhibitions include: 'Turnaround', Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray (2007); 'Presence', Limerick City Gallery of Art (2007); 'The Colour of Surprise', Limerick City Gallery of Art (2007); 'Growbag', The Art Pavilion, London (2006); 'I'll show you mine', Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (2006); 'Fresh;, re-imagining L.C.G.A permanent collection (2006); 'Chelsea goes south', Sun and Doves, London; 'Tenants Super Futures show', Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (2006); 'Merge', Engage Studios, Galway (2005); ev+a 2005; Summer Show II, Form Gallery, Cork, (2004); 'Barnosoul', Limerick Printmakers Gallery (2004); 'Threesome', Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick (2004); Quadrant Young Contemporaries, The Belltable Arts Centre (2003); 'Ensemble', Limerick Printmakers Gallery (2003); 'Chapters of Approach', The Church Gallery, L.S.A.D (2003); 'Contact Studios', The Belltable Arts Centre (2003); '6x6 for Ireland', 411 Gallery, Peoples Republic of China. In 2005 she was awarded a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. Collections include the Office of Public Works and Limerick City Gallery of Arts Permanent Collection.

 

"The pace of life has accelerated considerably in my lifetime. Speed and convenience are the order of the day. The demands of living in a metropolis, such as London, require that we prioritise both what we do and thus what we see. Generally we avoid delving into anything that distracts us from our routine endeavours. We become desensitised to the array of imagery bombarding us, concentrating only on our linear path, that which exists in our peripheral vision is lost to us. The nucleus of my current work is that which exists in this unnoticed, bypassed, discarded space.

The photographs that I take in the course of my own daily routine are the source material for my work. They comprise of unobtrusive everyday scenes and items. Many contain images of the detritus of modern life. Objects that no longer serve a function, items that have been broken or just sidelined for an upgrade. Things left forlornly outside houses on the side of the street to be taken away. Most of these items have been displaced and discarded to make way for new things, 'out with the old and in with the new'.

Urban regeneration and redevelopment are omnipresent. At every junction of my suburban road there are houses being totally gutted to be rejuvenated, redeveloped and resold. The resultant debris from these settings of demolition and rebuilding are also photographed, as are the local salvage yards and recycling centres where the reusable remnants of these homes end up. How quickly many of these discarded items are recycled for use by others is surprising, and suggests the diverse levels of economic realities that exist parallel to each other.

I’m interested in the strange and peculiar beauty inherent in these scenes while simultaneously questioning our prevalent consumption patterns. My still lives of these forgotten objects offer a reprieve from the relentless bombardment of consumerism and materialism.

I employ various approaches to painting and combine them to create what I refer to as 'painting hybrids'. I utilise multiple processes in a single pictorial plane. Some objects are depicted in detail others merely sketched echoing the random lives of these discarded items. Empty spaces in the composition echo the outlines of the overlooked objects. Areas of flat gloss paint exist along side representational oil painting. This in turn is combined with line drawing, which is occasionally executed in relief with silicone line drawing and other mixed media elements.

The resultant images are intended to describe the various polarities I feel exist when considering this subject matter. The depictions exist somewhere between suggestions of the old and the new, between the real and the abstract, and between the deliberate and the accidental. My still lives are subtly subversive- I intend to insight discussion regarding how we access the status of on entity when considered in a certain context and aim to reflect upon common assumptions we arrive at in the hurly burly of everyday life." Melanie O'Rourke, 2008.