The Doorway Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition by Sergey Talichkin, entitled, Yugen II, on Thursday, November 14th between 6-7.30pm on 24 South Frederick Street. The exhibition will be officially opening by critic and broadcaster, Niall MacMonagle.
‘Days are where we live’ says poet Philip Larkin and we’ve all known different kinds of days: the higgledy-piggledy ones, the frazzled ones, the chasing-our-tails ones . . . Or if you’re Sergey Talichkin, the mellow, laid-back, calm and mysterious and beautiful ones. Because that’s what Talichkin captures so well in the works before us this evening.
Art alerts us to everything about our being here on planet earth. And this extraordinary thing called making art has been with us from very early on. In 1995, in the Chauvet Cave in France wall paintings were discovered that were dated to approximately 30,000 to 32,000 B.C. This making of images is a very old art form and the Irish poet Moya Cannon points out that ‘the need to make something beautiful was central to our emergence as human beings. Our need for beauty is very old’. Our need for beauty is very now and all about us this evening in these two rooms are works of extraordinary beauty.
Earlier this year I came across a painting of his at the RHA Summer Show. It was a magnificent Dublin night scene and it stopped me in my tracks. I admired it then, and now knowing more of his work, I admire his paintings even more. With Yugen, this new show, Sergey Talichkin takes us places. Our lives have become saturated with computer technology, our lives have speeded up, have become faster but Sergey Talichkin reminds us that we are part of nature, not separate from it.’
Talichkin’s portrayal of the natural world, landscape, seascape, skyscape, stunning cloudscapes in changing, different light is masterly and these nineteen paintings around us take us places – to Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a harvest field. Glendalough, Skellig Islands, the city at night, Dalkey, Howth. AND of course the Poolbeg Stacks - saved by St Leo Varadkar, no kidding. The Poolbeg Chimneys feature three times in this exhibition; that walk to Poolbeg Lighthouse is my favourite walk in Dublin and it’s another reason why I love Sergey’s work. And, for Killarney-born me, one of the very best things about Sergey is that his favourite place in Ireland is County Kerry. He’s a discerning guy; he has great taste.
Born in Ukraine, he has made Ireland his home and not only is he technically brilliant, this young man has soul. In his art he has allowed Irish people view the Irish landscape with a refreshed pleasure. His Glendalough is a moody blue; his canal back walk is still and greeny; his Ballycarbery Castle is ghostly and beautiful. In these paintings and in those works that do not feature, say, a specific place – I’m thinking of a painting like Lilypond Sea – there is a wonderful, calming effect. A special feeling that’s summed up in the Japanese aesthetic term Yugen, the name of this exhibition, meaning a deep awareness of the mystery of the universe. Yugen is not about some other world, it is about this world and all it offers, a world that is becomes a heavenly on earth. Niall MacMonagle, Irish Independent .
Reception Details:
Date: Thursday, November 14th
Guest Speaker: Art Ccritic and Broadcaster, Niall MacMonagle
Time: 6 – 7.30 pm
Refreshments Served
CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW THE EXHIBITION
