Abstract Work

My early abstract work was painted in the late sixties and the early seventies. Acrylic on board was the preferred medium and support the latter because it was inexpensive and durable. The colours were not cheap but they were recommended by the artist John Luke for their permanence and so it has proved. Abstraction's lack of subject matter was appealing because it removed me from the hegemony of the traditional Irish Landscape. It seemed mildly rebellious. It was a challenge to the intellect and methods of a painter living in a conservative and insular city that was turning to a very violent period in it's history. Looking at this early, at times naive work, I find it useful in helping to sort out my current concerns and the position of abstraction in the current thinking about art practices.