MARCEL VIDAL

Celebrated for his diverse practice and immersive sculptural installations, Stuck on dawn ‘brings together three series of work in Marcel Vidal’s first exhibition dedicated exclusively to painting. Quietly disarming and unsettling us with an ominous beauty, Vidal’s paintings are marked by their refined and restrained brushwork, layering oil on linen with delicacy and precision and by their minimal, cropped compositions.

These works explore unknown, uncertain spaces with Vidal’s characteristic use of dramatic colour, light and shadow. They invite our curiosity, offering glimpses of their diverse subjects; canopies of dense banana tree foliage, the stretched acrylic skin of tents and the dark shadowy images from distant moon landings. In the exhibition Stuck on dawn the intriguing imagery seems familiar and recognisable but ultimately Vidal’s paintings remain ambiguous, emerging from shadow, partial or obscured.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Everybody Knows, with Paul Hallahan, The Complex, Dublin, (2020); SILVERFISH, The Dock Arts, Carrick on Shannon (2018); Donut, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin (2017/2018); #untitled, Basic Space, Dublin (2013); Selected group exhibitions include, Hennessy Craig Award, Royal Hibernian Academy, Ireland (2019); Zurich Portrait Prize, National Gallery of Ireland (2019); Too Much Sugar, Drawing & Installation Station, TBG+S, Ireland (2019); Syntonic State, Tulca, Galway (2018); Hannah Fitz/Áine McBride/Daniel Rios Rodriguez/Marcel Vidal, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin (2017) and MOON FARK, Jason Dunne / Marcel Vidal / David Eager Maher, RAKE, Norway (2014).

Vidal is a recipient of The Hennessy Craig Award for painting at The Royal Hibernian Academy (2019), Arts Council of Ireland Next Generation Award (2019) and The Golden Fleece Main Award for Visual Art (2019). Vidal was also included in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow by Kurt Beers (Thames and Hudson, 2019).