ref: 00w ' May 9-Jun 23 2006 THE PICCADILLY GALLERY John Kelly



The following is a short statement from the artist himself describing the exhibition and the reasoning behind it.
 
'There was an Australian, an Englishman and an Irishman...' relates to
the fact I have three passports belonging to the above countries. This
makes my work eligible to represent them at the Venice Biennale (the
art-world's Olympics).

In November last year I exhibited the Australian pavilion at Niagara.
The pavilions are scale models into which I place real paintings and
sculpture that happen to be small. The paintings are painted on copper
etching plates ( a practice dating back to the 16th century). Next to
the Australian pavilion I also exhibited a scale model of ACCA, one of
Australia's premier contemporary art venues.

The London exhibition will exhibit the British pavilion and also their
premier contemporary art space Tate Modern, to a scale of 1:20 (the
floorboards are made from coffee stirrers). I have made these models in
Cork , Ireland.

The work is divided into three identities with the Dobell's Cows work,
the logo work  and work that references another Australian of Irish
descent, Sydney Nolan.

Next year I will be exhibiting the Irish pavilion and the Irish Museum
of Modern Art here in Ireland.
Piccadilly Gallery
43 Dover Street
London W1S 4NU
 
T: 020 7629 2875
F: 020 7499 0431