Richard Proffitt’s practice may best be described as evincing a preoccupation with the interspersal of the esoteric, the phenomenological and the darkly fantastical amid the everyday, and often unremarkable, artifacts of childhood and adolescent experience. We observe the conflict, and ultimate coalescence, of these extremities as they are represented in the work of A Memory Circular.
Over the last two years, Proffitt has focused his practice almost entirely on painting and, in doing so, has ostensibly arrived at a point of transition from prior, predominantly large scale, installation work. The notion of complete divergence, however, would seem to be in error. Rendered on found pieces of untamed, irregularly cut wood, the paintings of A Memory Circular retain, and even augment, the preoccupations characteristic of previous installation work; the juxtaposition of the ordinary and the mystic, the ritualistic cohabitating with rubbish.
Extracts from ‘Fragrant portals, dimly starred’, an accompanying text by Mary O’Halloran. (Full text available below)
This work was made with the support of the Arts Council Bursary.
Richard Proffitt : A Memory Circular
Past exhibition
