Care(e)r

Jude – was invited by Artlink to showcase a collection of his work at the Saldanha Suite, Fort Dunree, this March 2019.

Jude entitled the exhibition Careɇr, and selected work produced during the past three years. The title of the exhibition ironically reflects on the fact that, for the past few years, he has been thrust into the emotionally challenging role of full-time carer for his two ageing parents, while still trying to produce art; his father passed away recently, after a long struggle with dementia. Jude found the experience of being a carer “a test of the self, and what comes with that is some self-awareness. We find out who we really are and what is important.”

Not surprisingly, the experience has impacted on his artistic output, and resulted in an intensely personal and searingly honest exhibition. He readily confesses that, when choosing what paintings to show in this exhibition, he relied on his own emotional responses to the work, though he could not necessarily put into words the reasons for these choices.

“When life kicks us in the backside, purely perhaps to wake us out of our comfortable easiness, it does so without warning. My work is reflective of a blank but very present mind, which one has when coming from seeing a loved one in pain. What appears in the show may be likened to an apparition. It took me a while to even understand what was coming out, yet it was never questioned. Like a river finds its path, so did my work. There was no prior motive, or theme, other than to keep working.”

He cites the works of Klee, Diebenkorn and Rauschenberg as inspirations for his new found creative risk taking. “Rather than concentrate so much as before on the technical side, the choices became predominantly those of colour. All types of media have been used, the accidental nature of using what was given, was important.”

Jude concludes, “Each of us has their truth, and the truth is the basis for this show of work. If this show succeeds in doing anything, then my hope is that it reveals something of the artists’ life”.

Artlink’s Project Manager, Patricia Spokes, said “We are grateful to Jude for bringing this collection of such personal work to the gallery. Careɇr explores his own emotional response to an issue we can all relate to, and we are sure that people will be moved by his honesty, and the intensity of his vision, when viewing this work.”

The opening reception was on Saturday 2nd March, 2 – 4 pm. The exhibition ran until 24th March

About the artist
Jude is an Inishowen based artists. Born in Leicester he moved with his family to Dublin where he gained a degree at the College of Marketing & Design. He then spent 15 years working as a songwriter and composer producing 4 albums, and tours of Ireland, UK, and Europe. He has composed music and soundtracks for a number of Film and TV productions.
Having moved to Clonmany, Co. Donegal, Jude began his visual arts practice in 2014. He is represented by the Warehouse Gallery, Derry where he produced his first solo exhibition ‘CITIZENS’ in 2016, and by the Doorway Gallery, Dublin 2.