Complex imagination and quiet realism in 'A Hint of Gray' exhibition

An 'amazingly talented father-daughter duo' was how Brad Gray and his daughter Della Cowper-Gray were introduced at last evening's opening of their first joint exhibition, 'A Hint of Gray' in the Riverbank Arts Centre, writes Brian Byrne.

Alexandra Rosiak, Venue Director at Riverbank, particularly congratulated Della (14) for her success in winning the Zurich Young Portrait award last year, with, as it happened, a portrait of her father. "I think it is safe to say that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when we look at Della's stunning portraits," she said. "The talent, the attention to detail, and the emotional load is clearly visible."

She also spoke warmly about Brad Gray's work, on this occasion the first time he has exhibited in a local arts centre, although he has been exhibiting his work internationally for many years. "I personally am a big admirer of his works and their dreamlike character is something that I really, really enjoy and get lost in."

Of the 19 works on display in the Foyer Gallery of Riverbank, six are by Della. All are portraits, of her father, her sister Mae, a self-portrait, Ann Flanagan of Scoil Bhride, and of two dogs. Her preferred medium is coloured pencils on paper, and the works show how well she is able to work up detail, colour subtleties, and a strong sense of tonal range between light and dark.

Brad Gray's works are, he says himself, classed as dark surrealism, done in traditional oil paints 'with a modern twist'. "They're sometimes dark, sometimes cute, depending on the subject." Depending too on the thought processes of the viewer, as Alexandra Rosiak noted a 'lot of humour, absurd and symbolism' in the paintings. "Which, as it should be with art, are open to individual interpretation."

His work is highly imaginative, typically in the larger pieces having a broad variety of 'characters' which on first view do not seem to have any relationship to each other. They can be whimsical — like a tiny canary, or a pink elephant ("Yes, they pop up quite often, I don't know why ..."), scarily monstrous like the cumbersome creature in The Enchanted playing music to an intrigued nude young woman on the other side of the room, or a multi-species mix of non- and semi-human and animal such as those in the large format Light to Exist.

"That one started when I was in a temple in India. I was aware of this very dark space inside, and there was a point where people were worshipping. There was this quiet presence … and outside I was aware of the frenetic kind of chaos of typical India. The painting depicts this guy stepping into a world — which I was doing in this temple — having a glimpse of what was going on, but there was so much more to the experience."

Della's view is in the context of always having known her father as a very good artist whom she loves very much. "I've always looked up to him as an artist — he does so many detailed pieces, and it has always made me want to put detail in my own work." She loves the imaginative aspect of her dad's paintings, and would like to follow with similar imagination in her own. "But the commissions I get, and the competitions I enter, require realism. If someone were to commission an imaginative piece it would come from within myself."

For Brad, having his daughter also as an artist 'is nice'. "Watching her work, at her age she is far better than I was … more talent, patience, and she just quietly gets along with it. The way the world is now, everything becoming digital, I appreciate the fact that she is using traditional methods and I’m really impressed with what she’s doing — it’s a slow delicate process building up her work with coloured pencils."

Alexandra Rosiak said she believes there is much more creativity yet to be uncovered in Della. "I think we can surely look forward to celebrating many more of her unique visual exploits, and I wish both Brad and Della every success in their respective arts practice."

'A Hint of Gray' runs until 30 April. Admission free, but an appreciation of imagination is required.

Among those who attended the opening were Anne Flanagan, Scoil Bhride Kilcullen, and Kilcullen artist and sculptor Noel Scullion.

Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy