Patrick Scott

One of Ireland’s most important and highly regarded living artists, Patrick Scott, will have a solo exhibition of new work at the Fenton Gallery opening this May 17th as part of its programme of exhibitions for 2005.

Over twenty new paintings will be shown in this exhibition, a very exciting moment, as this is the artist’s first commercial show in a decade. It is all the more exciting because Scott who is now in his eighty fifth year, is a Cork man, originally from Kilbrittan.

Scott has had an eventful life since leaving Kilbrittan to go to school in Dublin (where he continued to live.) He originally trained as an architect but has worked exclusively as an artist and sometimes as a designer for most of his life, completing several important state commissions.

His art is notable for its pared back structure and the minimal yet beautiful materials which he uses. There is a zen-like meditative quality to all of Scott’s art. ‘Circle and square are his fundamental units of form’ notes Aidan Dunne in the catalogue essay for this exhibition: ‘In 1964 Scott began to use gold leaf and to a lesser extent palladium (silver). ‘In Western and Byzantine art the use of gold is charged with Christian connotations…Yet by appealing to a cooler, Eastern aesthetic, related specifically to Japanese screens and interior design, Scott simply and effectively negated the potential complications of interpretation and meaning.’ (Dunne).

His work is in all major Irish public collections and he has been widely written about, most recently in the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery book for his retrospective exhibition there in 2002.

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Patrick Scott