31/03/22
WE ARE ARTISTS FOR UKRAINE
WE ARE ARTISTS FOR UKRAINE stands in solidarity with the artists, artist-run spaces, and all the people of Ukraine who are bravely resisting an immoral and illegal Russian invasion, those who have lost loved ones, or have been forced to flee their homes and country. Living in a country where we have a right to choose our leaders, and where we enjoy freedom of expression without fear, we also applaud those Russians who are speaking out and demonstrating against their government.
Paul Hallahan
This is normal, 2021
Timed edition
Fine art Giclee archival print on 320 gsm cotton rag paper
A3 (420 x 297mm)
€50
Maintaining spaces for artists to work and artist communities to thrive is a difficult task at the best of times. Artists' incomes tend to be both low, intermittent, and without the security of other professions, while artists, writers, curators, critics and scholars are often targets of politically motivated threats and persecution all over the world.
In response to the humanitarian crisis affecting Ukraine, members of the wider artist-run community in Ireland wish to send a collective message of solidarity and raise funds for Ukrainian artists who are defending their country, have had to flee and rebuild their lives, and who we hope one day, will rebuild their spaces and contribute again to the art and culture of their country.
The organisers are hugely grateful to artist Paul Hallahan for generously allowing us to reproduce his artwork for this cause. Funds raised will be distributed directly to artists and artist-run spaces in Ukraine, and to ARTISTS at RISK (AR) is a non-profit organisation at the intersection of human rights and the arts. Since 2013 AR has been collaborating with arts non-profits and government funders to assist artists who are at risk politically and fleeing oppression and war in 26 locations in 19 countries globally.
WE ARE ARTISTS FOR UKRAINE is an initiative of:
Pallas Projects/Studios (Dublin), Ormston House (Limerick), Askeaton Contemporary Arts (Limerick), 126 (Galway), Sample-Studios (Cork), Catalyst Arts (Belfast)
Charity partner: ARTISTS at RISK
Artist Biography:
Paul Hallahan is an Irish artist whose work is primarily based in painting, but also sculpture and video. Interests within his work expand into many areas but commonly focus on how we as a species relate and interact with nature, taking art as a form or by-product of nature and our civilisation. Using various methods and techniques his paintings are built up of thin layers on mostly raw canvases which allow light move through the works and change within the locations they are located. In 2009 in conjunction with Waterford City Council he set and ran Soma contemporary till 2012, working with many national and international institutions and artists. He has exhibited widely over the past ten years and in 2018 he won the Golden Fleece Award. In recent years he has had exhibitions at The Complex (Dublin), Royal Hibernian Academy (Dublin), The Lab (Dublin), Berlin Opticians Gallery (Dublin), Roscommon Arts Centre and in 2019 he was part of a two-person exhibition that was shown in the Lexicon Gallery Dublin, Garter Lane Gallery Waterford, Sternview Gallery Cork, Platform Arts Belfast. His work is part of the collections of The Arts Council, DLR County Council, Trinity College Dublin, The Office of Public Works, Waterford City Collection and numerous private collections.
