Through the activities of walking and looking Tynan identifies alternative landmarks in the city, places to rest the eyes that give rise to contemplation. She observes and informally records visual quirks in her surroundings and such vagaries are later bestowed with temporal emphasis through the medium of paint. In the cracks of a pebble dashed wall and across a layer of uneven plaster, real world surfaces and textures appear elevated through keen observation. She focuses on time-ravaged parts of the city that maintain a patina of the past through neglect. Slogans and symbols scrawled or sprayed across gable ends, crows looking on, trinkets in a stranger’s porch; all distract from the path ahead. She transforms the world into signs and symbols in the search for pattern and meaning. Intricate meshing of woolen yarn forms a pattern that draws the eye downwards into a stare, a puddle in the footpath interrupts the Moroccan motif and in its reflection spring buds sprout from bare branches.
Kathy Tynan (b.1984) graduated from NCAD with a BA in 2008 and an MA in 2010. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Keep some steady friends around, Dunamaise Arts Centre, Laois (2022), Two Painters, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda (2020), Green Like Now, Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin (2019); Luminous Twitch, The Lab Gallery, Dublin (2019) and Atonal Supersound, Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin (2017). Recent selected group shows include The Hennessey-Craig Shortlist, RHA, Dublin (2019); Everything is in Everything, Sirius Arts Centre, Cork (2019); Traversées du Marais, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2018); Trophy Hunters, Dada Post, Berlin (2018); Constellations, Kuvataide Academia, Helsinki (2018); Many Worlds, Centre Cultural Irlandais, Paris (2017); There Are Little Kingdoms, Mermaid Arts Centre, Co.Wicklow (2016) and Hands Laid On, Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin (2016). Tynan completed a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris and published her first book of paintings, Proud & Strong All Day Long in 2018. In 2019 she was the winner of the Dublin City Council Visual Arts Bursary and is currently undertaking a two-month residency in St. Patrick's Lodge, Dublin. Tynan is represented by Kevin Kavanagh, Dublin.