Caoimhghin Ó Fraithile

Irish, born 1969

one

© Caoimhghin Ó Fraithile

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download

© Caoimhghin Ó Fraithile

Image downloads are for educational use only. For all other purposes, please see our Obtaining and Using Images page.

one, 2010

Artwork Details

Materials

ink, gouache, and watercolor on handmade paper

Measurements

sheet: 24 x 31 inches (60.96 x 78.74 cm)

Collection Buffalo AKG Art Museum

Credit

Fellows for Life Fund, by exchange and Gift of Demotte and Company, by exchange, 2012

Accession ID

2012:42

Caoimhghin Ó Fraithile’s mystical drawings are informed by the natural world. His work allows the viewer to lament the past while considering the present by reflecting the temporality of all living things. The artist has said, “All my drawings come out of my journal practice; by combining text and imagery I strive to convey a sense of mystery.” This work is part of a series of drawings the artist developed from his observation of the Skellig Islands in Ireland, which are the site of a seventh-century Christian monastery. It depicts a recognizable yet fictional vision of the towers of the monastery engulfed by fire. Below, underground hideouts are rendered as spaces for escape and renewal. According to Ó Fraithile, one is meant to evoke a time in which ancient people went on pilgrimages to remote places to be closer to the Divine. For him, the essence of his practice is about offering a similar kind of space to the viewer.

Label from Drawing: The Beginning of Everything, July 8–October 15, 2017