Hughie O’Donoghue: Venice Project

 

These new monotype prints were made by Hughie O’Donoghue in Venice during the summer of 2011.  This is the second time that O’Donoghue has worked in Venice at the Scuola Internationale di Grafica di Venezia, and the second time he has shown at the Catherine Hammond Gallery.

Printmaking is an essential component of O’Donoghue’s practice.  The Venice Project was intended to be spontaneous and related to Venice in some way.  Beneath the artist’s Venetian apartment were several life size sculptures on the wall of the building.  One was particularly striking, a figure of a man carrying a burden on his back with a nose made of iron.  Known as Rioba, this figure is thought to bring good luck.  The head of Rioba became the principal subject of O’Donohue’s Venice Project.

In over twenty works in the show, O’Donoghue explores the locus of memory evoked in stone sculptures he found throughout Venice.  These colourful monotypes are like oil sketches on paper, unique works done with the help of a process.  Repeat impressions are individually reworked and offer insight into the artist’s various reinterpretations of the same idea.  These works offer exceptional value for collectors and everyone who admires O’Donoghue’s work.