FAULT LINES is a touring exhibition of original art by Damien McGinley which focuses on the issue of male suicide.

 

It features 12 original oil paintings of icons who took their own lives – from Van Gogh and

Hemingway to Kurt Cobain and Robin Williams – running the spectrum of masculinity from

macho to maestro.

 

Up close the images look like barcodes: as anonymous and abstract as graphs. Step back and

those same images turn into human faces: instantly recognisable individuals united by a common, tragic theme. The technique dates back to a portrait Damien made in 2000, watching the linear effect of rain against a background at night and how it accentuates the palette. The portraits examine how the linear structure can respond to both the internal and external landscape of the collection.

 

Years later a conversation during lockdown with Stephen Pringle, MD and Owner of Sherwood

Phoenix Music, about mental health began the process which led to FAULT LINES.

 

“We started asking each other how many men of our age had committed

suicide,” said Damien. “It turned out we knew too many. Everybody has a story.

“We decided on the idea of icons because everyone has an emotional connection

to such recognisable faces.”