Gentle and Violent – Michael Gurhy

The Nunnery Gallery is pleased to present a new body of work by London based artist Michael Gurhy. The exhibition, supported by Arts Council England, has been created over the past several months during lockdown and marks a shift in the artists practice towards the making of sculptural based objects while still incorporating more familiar mediums such as print, drawing, painting and a collaged photograph of the artist’s parents.
Francis Morris (Head of Collections International Art, Tate Modern) and Enrique Juncosa (Director, Irish Museum of Modern Art) both agreed that Michael Gurhy’s work “is small-scale work but potent in terms of emotion. His work addresses youth culture but evokes a knowledge of the unforeseen, of premonition”.
(2) The Balance of Things, Mixed Media, 2020
 
The exhibition features work made in various materials, shifting between made, altered and found objects – we are often unsure which is which. Deceptive bronze-like sculptures such as Juvenescence, (2) The Balance of Things and Loves Executioner seem familiar to us in their reference to precious relics and sacred objects one might expect to find inside a Church or Cathedral. On closer inspection however we see that the visual language of religious iconography is disrupted and reimagined through the incorporation of fetishised objects, personal artefacts and fairytale imagery that would not look out of place in Angelas Carter’s The Bloody Chamber.
“I incorporate into the work images of catholicism such as the cross and the Virgin Mary which were prevalent during my childhood in Ireland. By challenging their symbolic meaning outside of a religious setting, the deconstruction and reimagining of religious meaning becomes an investigation into the family unit, and a way for me to make sense of and to reclaim my own narrative”.

(3) Oh Mom and Dad, Photographic collage
 
The artists interest in psychoanalytic theory, and its ability to release repressed emotions and experiences by making the unconscious conscious, echoes throughout Gurhy’s work. These works could be easily categorised between Freuds two fundamental drives of Eros (The life instinct, which include sexual instincts, the drive to live, and basic instinctual impulses such as thirst and hunger) and Thanatos (the drive of aggression, sadism, destruction, violence, and death) most evident in pieces such as The beauty of Survival, a bath filled with dyed Gypsophila (baby’s breath) and resin dedicated to the artists Mother and her battle with a terminal illness. (1) Quietus, a piece that incorporates three birds cast in stone and laying belly up on concrete blocks serves as a Memento Mori to the viewer of our own fragility and of our eventual extinction.
The shift from adolescence to adulthood, sexual awakening and unconscious desire is reflected in pieces such as Nocturnus, Rites of Passage and Eros. While the painting Salvatore and the photo collage (3) Oh Mom and Dad speak of Redemption, Trauma doesn’t like to be Touched and Permission, Submission, Contrition speak more to the shadow side of the psyche.
“I want to leave these pieces open to the viewers interpretation, although for me they are deeply personal and perhaps served as the most cathartic works to make, an over explanation would kill their accessibility, I want the viewer to project onto these works their own meaning”.
Influenced by artists such as Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin whose works are known for their emotionally violent and raw autobiographical narratives, Gurhy’s work operates from this same space activating psychological responses from the viewer with access to the work on many levels from the purely visual to the deeply personal.
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About Michael Gurhy
Born in Cork, Ireland, Michael Gurhy got his fine art degree from Crawford College of Arts & Design before moving to London and completing a Masters at Central Saint Martins. Michael became the first recipient of the €5000 Crawford Open Artist Award selected from over 750 applicants by Francis Morris and Enrique Juncosa. Additional prizes and awards received include The Installation/Video Award from the Cork Film Centre. The U.C.C. Purchase Prize selected by the Glucksman Gallery for the University College Cork Collection and the Arts Festival Prize award given by the Cork Institute of Technology. In 2016 Michael’s print The Language of Lagomorphs was selected by the Nunnery Gallery as part of it’s 20 Prints for 20 Years, a limited edition series of prints from Bow Arts artists. He is currently based in East London with his partner and their two cats, Midnight and Nico.
www.michaelgurhy.com
Main image: (1) Quietus, Cast Stone and Concrete, 2020. Courtesy Michael Gurhy. 
 
Access Information
Nunnery Gallery has step-free access throughout from street level, including to the accessible toilet, and is service animal friendly. This venue does not have a hearing loop system.
Accessible parking is not available on-site but blue badge parking can be found 500m away on Fairfield Road.
In accordance to the government guidelines we have taken suitable measures to ensure the safety of all visitors due to Covid-19. Entry to the gallery remains free for everyone. All visitors are advised to book a time-slot in advance to view the exhibition, as capacity will be limited for everyone’s safety. There will be a one-way system operating throughout the gallery and café, guiding you through the space. All visitors are required to wear face coverings in the building, apart from those who are exempt.
If you have any questions regarding accessibility at this venue or event, would like to make us aware of any access requirements that you have in advance of visiting, or would like this information in an alternate format including Easy Read, please email nunnery@bowarts.com or call 020 8980 7774 (Ext. 3)
Travel Information
Opening hours: Tue-Sun, 10am-4pm
Address: Nunnery Gallery, 181 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ
Nearest station(s): Bow Road (District and Hammersmith and City lines) is a 6-minute walk away, and Bow Church (DLR) is a 3-minute walk away.
Bus:205, 25, 425, A8, D8, 108, 276, 488 and 8 all service the surrounding area.
Bike: Bicycle parking is located at Bow Church Station. The nearest Santander Cycles docking station is at Bow Church Station.