Ciara Roche: 9.42am- 11.56pm

In 2016, Lismore Castle Arts presented a solo exhibition of new paintings by Ciara Roche in St Carthage Hall, which opened from October 10th and continued till November 16th, 2016. The title of the exhibition 9.42am – 11.56pm is a reference to the times of day that Ciara undertook the paintings.

Ciara’s small scale paintings capture moments in the grounds of Lismore Castle, like a documentation of the time and place unique to that moment. Human presence is implied but never shown - perhaps a deck chair recently vacated or the headlights of a car driving through an archway.

In the words of the artist “Lismore Castle in a place where the imagination can run into overdrive, a place most of us would not be accustomed to. I arrived on a gloomy day in early spring for my first research trip. Wandering through the gardens and grounds it is impossible not to get captivated by the beauty, enchantment and often eerie otherworldliness of the place. I spent a long time alone and often by night in the grounds researching and soaking up the atmosphere. I work quickly in the ‘wet on wet’ style giving the work a less fragile feel, perhaps taking the extraordinary castle and gardens and treating it much more like the ordinary.”

Ciara, originally from Wexford, graduated from BA Fine Art at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in 2015 and has exhibited across Ireland. This series of paintings was commissioned by Lismore Castle Arts following Ciara’s participation in the Origins exhibition at St Carthage Hall in November 2015.