Donagh Carey's latest series of paintings, Three Towers, opened at the Blue House Gallery in Schull, West Cork last Friday.
Donagh Carey with sculptor Barry Linnane, whose bronze and metalwork sculptures are exhibited alongside Donagh's paintings
It is a body of work inspired by Dun Locha, meaning castle on the lake, which is commonly know as Three Castles Head, situated on the Mizen Penninsula. Donagh has delved into the history and atmosphere of this remote area of Ireland, in a century when tools and engineering were rudimentary, but effective enough to build an extraordinary fortress of stone. In the 12th century, Donagh the Migratory was forced back by aggressors to the furthest most point, where he built a mural wall fort incorporating the three towers and flanked on the other sides by cliffs and the atlantic ocean. Constructed beside a fresh water lake, the castle provided sanctuary and protection for Donagh the Migratory's clan and was never attacked. Donagh Carey's paintings, with titles including 'Mural Wall', 'Last Bastion', 'Promontory' and 'Flank' are a response to the imagined isolation of those earlier centuries and the atmosphere experienced exploring the castle remains nowadays.
At the official opening, painting Breaking Waves to the right with bronze sculpture by Barry Linnane
From left to right, Promontory, Last Bastion and One Hundred Paces
On opening night, with the painting Mural Wall far right and Headland, a series of four, to centre
The exhibition continues until Tuesday 15th August and is open daily from 11am to 5pm.
View more paintings from Donagh's Three Towers series.