Fragments

international | arts and media | press release Monday April 13, 2009 10:02 by adoenoughdone

Enda O’Donoghue at the Irish Arts Center in New York

The Irish Arts Center, a New York venue dedicated to the evolving arts and culture of Ireland and Irish America, is pleased to announce the opening of Irish artist Enda O’Donoghue’s first U.S. exhibition. Opening on Public Thursday, April 30, 7:30 pm

Enda O'Donoghue, “Apetite” (2008), Oil on Canvas, 95 x 120 cm

Irish Arts Center
553 West 51 Street,
New York, NY 10019
www.irishartscenter.org

Contact: Joanna L. Groarke
(212) 757-3318 ext 203
[email protected]

Public Opening and Artist Talk:
Thursday, April 30, 7:30 pm

April 30-June 19, 2009

Gallery Open by Appointment
Monday-Friday 10am-6pm

Enda O’Donoghue is known for his work in painting, photography, video, installation, public art, and interactive media. His most recent paintings depict banal scenes of everyday life such as packed subway cars, travelers waiting at airport gates, and fast food checkout counters. Rather than being based on live models, O’Donoghue’s subject matter is drawn from snapshots he finds on the Internet. With each image he works with he is meticulous about tracing the ownership and requesting permission for its use. He uses the painting process to echo and translate the nature of these often low quality digital images, complete with blurriness, glitches and pixelation.

The artist refers to the subjects of these works as “in-between” spaces, which are neither public nor private. The same could be said of his work, which is neither the original product of his imagination nor a direct copy. Like twentieth-century artists including Andy Warhol, Gerhardt Richter, and Sherrie Levine, O’Donoghue raises questions about individual perception, the ownership of images, and the essence of authenticity. Using the ancient art form of painting to comment on contemporary phenomena, he challenges the viewer to think about the connections between fine art and technology as forms of self-expression.

Enda O’Donoghue was born in Limerick, Ireland. He studied computer programming before completing a degree in painting at the Limerick School of Art and Design. He went on to earn a Masters in Interactive Media at the University of Limerick and has worked at the Interactive Design Centre at the University of Limerick, where he taught in the field of Interactive Media. Since 2002, O’Donoghue has lived and worked in Berlin. For more information about his work, visit www.endaism.com.

In recent years his work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Notable examples include a recent solo show at the Galerie hunchentoot in Berlin; the showcase exhibition for the tenth Berlin Kunstherbst festival; the annual KiC NordArt exhibition in the north of Germany; Overgaden, the Institute for Contemporary Art in Copenhagen; and art fairs in Berlin and Cologne. In Ireland he has exhibited at the Four Gallery in Dublin and the Limerick City Gallery.

This exhibition is supported by Culture Ireland.