Artist’s work reminds us to appreciate life

A Co Cork artist’s work as portrayed in a new film by Macroom native Dónal Ó Céilleachair is a reminder to us all to slow down and enjoy life.

Tadhg McSweeney: A Film Portrait by Dónal Ó Céilleachair is screened as part of the ‘Here and Now’ exhibition celebrating the creative wealth of Macroom and its surrounds at Macroom Town Hall Gallery until July 26. The film was commissioned by the Arts Office of Cork County Council.

Ó Céilleachair admits he wasn’t sure what to make of McSweeney (right) on first encountering him. “You might find it is difficult to approach him and you wonder how to approach him,” Ó Céilleachair explains.

The film was made last summer over a number of days spent with McSweeney at his home in Kilnamartyra, Co Cork. “Tadhg is incredibly articulate and knowledgeable. You might not get that if you just meet him for a brief conversation or even when I met him first,” says Ó Céilleachair. “You could spend hours talking to Tadhg and you wouldn’t even tip the iceberg of the particular conversation.”

Returning to his hometown after several years in New York saw Ó Céilleachair re-connect with the Irish countryside and a different way of life. He says he found all of that embodied in McSweeney’s work. What he also discovered was a common understanding of the universe from a creative standpoint.

McSweeney’s naive painting style, says Ó Céilleachair, can present difficulties or challenges for some people but he relates to the minimalism in the work in which the artist focuses in on the essentials: “One of my favourite paintings of Tadhg’s is a shovel and a pitchfork leaning against a wall. It’s in the film,” says Ó Céilleachair.

Life has become so fast paced, so full of information and technology with so much happening “it’s nice to have something like Tadhg’s work to remind us to just stop”.

And that’s exactly what the film does. It provides a quiet corner to re-connect with the essential.

Indeed, Ó Céilleachair finds a common thread among those he has worked with since he returned to Ireland. Philosopher John Moriarty, McSweeney and the other artists and musicians all find understanding within their own landscape and culture, he explains.

Relating this work back to his earlier Tibetan and Buddhist themed films the filmmaker says McSweeney’s work also relates “in terms of being mindful and aware of the beauty in everyday life if you take a moment to look around you”.

‘Here and Now’ contains work by Len Clatworthy, Bernice Corcoran, Debbie Godsell, Ray Lawlor, Tadhg McSweeney and John Philip Murray, with portraits of all the artists by photographer Con Kelleher.

It marks a decade of Town Hall exhibitions curated by Norah Norton that began with a proposal in 2004 by John Philip Murray to feature contemporary artists that had previously shown in Macroom in 1990. However, there is one notable absence this time round. Len Clatworthy passed away in 2009. Proceeds from sales of his work at the exhibition go to Marymount Hospice.

Here and Now is at Macroom Town Hall Gallery until July 26