Gilbert McCarragher

Brother

A 2-part series exhibited at Gloucester Cathedral.

Produced following the death of my eldest brother, ‘Brother’ comprises two wooden lightboxes, designed to combine the interplay of light and architecture and to evoke a sense of contemplation and introspection.

The first piece in the series places you within a darkened room, looking onto a scene of a corridor leading to a bright doorway, inviting quiet reflection, as if one is standing on the threshold between the known and what lies beyond.

In its counterpart, a solitary figure is poised with a reverent stance in a sunlit room in a moment of private devotion or meditation.

The pieces are altars of sorts, not to the divine, but to the quiet moments of introspection we seldom allow ourselves in the rush of daily life.

Price on application.

Royal Academy of Arts

I am honoured to have had my work selected by the coordinator and curator of the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2022, Professor Alison Wilding OBE RA, on the theme of climate in all manifestations, whether it presents as crisis or opportunity, nightmare or memories, or simply our everyday experience of weather.

‘Watering cans 1’ is part of a series of works I developed which incorporate garden implements from Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage. The desiccation of the near-desert environment in which the watering can was used is borne out by the worn, scorched and rusted markings present on the watering can’s head. Photographed front on, the can’s head hangs in space like the earth, giving a global perspective to issues of water scarcity and the deepening climate crisis.

• Prospect Cottage, Watering cans 1 - 80 cm x 80 cm x 3cm (Edition of 10)
• Prospect Cottage, Watering cans 2 - 93 cm x 63 cm x 3cm (Edition of 10)
• Prospect Cottage, Gloves - 93 cm x 63 cm x 3cm (Edition of 10)

All three pieces shown from this series are available to purchase. Price on application. Contact Gilbert McCarragher for further details.

Montauk

This series encapsulates the serene and unadorned beauty of coastal minimalism. Each of its 2 pieces is a study in tranquility, with a composition that marries expansive skies with the architectural lines of a sea barrier.

Price on application.

Reach

Exhibited at the Wapping Project and Jerwood galleries, London, ‘Reach’ evokes a sense of yearning and the beauty of the undefined, encouraging a personal reflection on the coalescene of clarity and ambiguity, and the limits of our grasp. Created for The Wapping Project’s ‘Twenty White Chairs’ exhibition, curated by Jules Wright.

Reflecting

In each piece in this 2-piece series, a pristine white space is interrupted by a solitary shape, which casts a shadow and invites contemplation of the physical and metaphysical space it occupies, while its reflective surface offers a silent commentary on the spaces we inhabit and the perspectives we hold.

Price on application.

Wapping Project

I worked with the visionary Jules Wright of the Wapping Project on several exciting exhibitions. For her Fashion, Film and Fiction exhibition, Jules asked me to create a short film which followed the creative process of one of the fashion designers involved in the show. Fellow Irishman Jonathan Quearney, a Savile Row trained tailor, was my subject. Much of the film was shot on Super8, giving the work its own rich pattern and texture.

Monastero di San Giorgio Maggiore

The Venetian island of San Giorgio is home to a community of Benedictine monks whose church—an impressive example of Palladian architecture—overlooks the lagoon toward St Mark’s Square. It was a privilege and an honour to be permitted by the monks to document their way of life and their daily rituals of work and worship. Time and time again during the project, I was humbled by the brothers’ gentle manner and the care they showed to one another and all others.

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