www.bishopaustinhearne.com

'Remains' (Solo) at Pallas Projects April 2018

What remains when the other parts have been taken away, consumed, rotted? The Catholic Church is sick, dying, dead, remaining. Its remains are stubborn, permanent – can not and will not rot. They are an empty carcass, leftover, ready to be reinhabited, reanimated by the next wave in its sicker, deadlier form.

Austin Hearne’s practice is rooted in photography wherein he explores its possibilities to produce installations, objects and performances that expand the limits of the photograph and indeed the medium. Prints, furnishings, wallpapers, garments and the materials of the painting and decorating industry all feature, carrying his created imagery and weaved narratives which merge fact and fiction, creating worlds, characters and scenarios that may or may not exist.

Hearne’s research stems from an analysis of the surfaces, iconography and politics of the Catholic Church with the churches of Dublin and beyond serving as impetus for works in this show.  The majesty and misery of this institution’s past and present dwells in the exhibition, with Hearne presenting photographs as interior decor and furniture. One of these pieces entitled Slab, a functional painter and decorator’s wallpaper pasting table acts as a storyboard, holding constructed photographs coalesced with archival documentary photos from the artist’s archive. This amalgamation of photographic work spans two decades posing narratives that the viewer can but glean.

“The visual and architectural apparatus of the Church is the embodiment of Catholic doctrine; promulgating the notion that one must submit oneself entirely, body and soul, to be a ‘good’ Catholic. Austin Hearne’s work reflects upon this but also injects a frisson of titillation via an irreverent and occasionally dark celebration of its sensuality.”                   

-excerpt from an essay Of Lilies and Remains by Pádraic E. Moore which accompanies this show.

Austin Hearne completed his MFA in NCAD in 2016. His most recent exhibitions include Pull The Rug Out From Under The Carpet at The Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2016 with a review in billionjournal.com, the Royal Ulster Academy annual exhibition, The Waiting Room at ArtBox Gallery, peripheriesOPEN 2017 at the Gorey School of Art and two group shows at Solomon Fine Art. He has performed at Room and Livestock. His photobook Butty was included in the Dublin Art Book Fair 2017 at TBG+S. His work is held in private collections across Europe, Ireland and the USA.