Join us at The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon for the opening of two solo exhibitions, From A Cosmic Drift Through Higher Prairie by Richard Proffitt and Ragged Trousers by Paddy Critchley on Saturday, July 15th at 2pm — 4pm.

From A Cosmic Drift Through Higher Prairie — Richard Proffitt
Richard Proffitt’s work in painting, sculpture, video, and sound is characterised by its manipulation and repurposing of found material, recurring themes, coded motifs, and symbolism. These works often combine to create installations that evoke previously inhabited and later abandoned places of worship; environments suggestive of the intermingling universes of esoteric religions, the bedrooms of teenage loners, and the remote dwellings of psychedelic death cults.

From A Cosmic Drift Through Higher Prairie reassembles two previous installation works to form a reimagined, site-responsive environment. Through the reappraisal and coalescence of existent elements with additional recent works, Proffitt encourages narratives and themes to shift, morph, and bend. From A Cosmic Drift Through Higher Prairie presents an otherworldly, intimate, and immersive experience amidst the ghostly debris of psychedelia, the failures of counterculture, and the remnants of an alternative spiritualism.

Ragged Trousers — Paddy Critchley
Ragged Trousers is an exhibition of new paintings by Paddy Critchley. The artist is interested in the representation of working-class life and in highlighting common issues facing many people in Ireland today.

The title of the exhibition is borrowed from ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ (1914) by Irish-born house-painter and sign-painter Robert Tressell. The semi-autobiographical novel is considered a seminal text on the exploitation of workers and the daily realities and obstacles they face.

Written over 100 years ago, the novel addresses issues and struggles still relevant today including high rent, cost of living, poverty, and emigration. Also known as the painter’s bible, it is a long-standing entry point into socialist narratives and ideologies.

For his exhibition at The Dock, Paddy Critchley draws on the conversations between the labourers depicted in the novel. Himself a house-painter, Paddy incorporates elements of the trade within his art practice as well as his own lived experiences.

Paddy Critchley is an artist from Laois, Ireland. Since graduating from Limerick School of Art and Design in 2021, he has exhibited at The Hunt Museum and Limerick City Gallery of Art, where his work was accessioned to the permanent collections, and at Dunamaise Arts Centre.

He was the recipient of the De Veres Art Award for Work of Distinction at the 191st Annual RHA Exhibition for the painting Nature Morte (After Beckett). Paddy also runs the Ballad Sessions in Charlie Malone’s Pub in Limerick city, which encourages the sharing of folk music from archives and keeping stories alive.