Joe Boyle's Art at Waterfront Hall, Belfast

There is a small number of artists that savvy Irish Art collectors should carefully track in 2009 - and Joe Boyle (a previous Conor Prize Winner at the Royal Ulster Academy) - is one of them. This Belfast Waterfront exhibition fuses three themes. The first is Boyle's response to a trip to China investigating 17th century dry brush calligraphy combined with Chinese contemporary aspiration for a western iconography. The second is the notion that the fragment can intentionally signify the whole - as part of an ancient object may be considered a work of art - despite that not being the original artistic intention. In this exploration Boyle chooses the Eye as the part that signifies the whole in a meaningful manner - presenting an opportunity to explore different ways of seeing aspects of change in Irish Society. The final theme is a response to Landscape which employs notions of metaphor, edge and parameter to explore emotions which we experience and are challenged by what is often a familiar and sometimes threatening environment. Joe Boyle - Solo Gallery 2 Waterfront Hall 2 Lanyon Place, Belfast Tel: 028 9033 4400 Opens Tuesday 3rd February (7pm- 9pm) until 27th February 2009 Irish Art