Aaron Alexander Smyth

‘In Bloom’ , ‘Twilight of the Idols’ ,  ‘Threading the Backwater (Cement Garden)’
85 x 65 cm Stone Lithograph and Layered Silk Screen Prints.

‘Ecce Puer’ is a body of work which investigates the division between the corporal and metaphysical nature of being, examining how an individual constructs an identity/identities. For a long time the investigatory nature of my practice has circled around these ideas of the Self and understandings of ‘being’ delving into memory, feelings, emotions and struggling at understandings of our existential trajectories. This new collection of works present layered and abstracted figurative images and scenarios, that at first appear as a true or simple representation but then reveal themselves as an impossibility – the layered presentation evoking deeper truths. These impossible realities are intended to highlight to the audience the artwork’s focus on internal tensions, one which exists not in the physical but metaphysical or psychological world. Calling attention to the vulnerability, struggle, perseverance and will of both the human body and soul.

Ecce Puer was presented in  ‘Signs of Memories’, a group exhibition which took place in The Russian State Art Library, Federal State Institution of Culture in July 2016. The exhibition was supported by The Embassy of Ireland, The Department of Foreign Affairs and The Krokin Gallery.