Week 3 ‘The king has donkeys ears’ sang the willow tree – an Irish Story

week 3 Willows on Xiaojie qiao , oil on canvas 120 x 100cm 倪芙瑞莲Niamh Cunningham 2012

简体中文

Week 3 – The king has donkey’s ears

One day , the kings messenger called at the home of a widow.

“ The King has a special job for your son ,  he must come to see the king tomorrow” she was told.

The woman was very worried. Once a year the king summoned a
barber to cut his hair. But no barber ever returned after his visit to the king.
The widow’s son was a barber.

No one knew that the king had a terrible secret. He had very strange ears which actually  looked like ears of a donkey.  To hide them he needed to have a special haircut . Every barber who cut the king’s hair had been put to death immediately so that he could never reveal the kings terrible secret.


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Week 1 Extend -Memory Palace of Trees… a collection of stories

Extend Ginkgo Memory Palace of Trees
Week 1 ‘Extend’, (Ginkgo Series) oil on canvas 50 x150 cm Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2016

Happy New Year, welcome to the ‘Memory Palace of Trees’ project 2020. This is a shared collection of stories about trees. I am aiming to gather tales and information from people all over the world, not just here in China. Your story can be about any kind of tree, you might be a carpenter, an academic , a student who has just planted a tree, or someone who simply admires trees. Maybe your story is a memory from decades ago. It is your story. It can be as short as “ I love the Chestnut tree” for example but  please try to keep your story to less than 200 words if possible . Your story might make it into one of the weekly posts (there will be 52 of them! ). If you send me your story (let me know if you want to be referred to by your name  or an initial , pen name or kept anonymous.)   Each week throughout 2020 a story  or some kind of information on trees will be posted with either an artwork already made or perhaps your story will inspire me to make a new work!

Throughout the year 2020 I also will be engaging and learning from various people such as foresters, nature filmmakers, photographers, carpenters,  ethnic minorities,  reconnecting with communities such as Friends of Nature  and my old  Hiking buddies .

handful of ginkgo leaves

And so Week 1 artwork is called ‘Extend’ as the outreach for the project of “Memory Palace of Trees” begins.

‘The Memory Palace of Trees’ is an invitation to the public to participate in story telling about trees. Memory Palaces are places where journey , image and information work together to remember things you want to keep in your mind.

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Portrait Project 2019

Bachmann Girl (week19) and Friend to Many (week 32) Bloomsday event at the Embassy of Ireland Beijing June 16th 2019 (photo by Eric Favreliere )

A very Happy New Year to all. A huge thank you to all the galleries curators and collectors who have supported me throughout 2019.

Here is a quick overview of the portraits posted during 2019 . The subjects range in age from 6 months to 100 years young. I began this series when living in Prague in 2010. There are many more friends, artists, curators, family members whom I have yet to paint however for the year 2020 I will continue at a more reasonable pace , perhaps 4 or 5 portraits alongside commission work.

This blog will look at the portrait series installed in different exhibitions in 2019 and a look at the portrait for each week through the year. Also included in this blog is a curatorial statement on my portrait series by renowned curator Huang Du.

Portraits at the exhibition ‘Odyssey The Return’ at Dong Yue Art Museum Beijing April 2019
Granary Art Centre, SiShui county , Shandong, May 2019
Dancer (week 10) and Twin Song (week 8) showing at Wick Art Centre, Budapest, April 2019
From right to left :Praha Cafe (week 3) and Scoop (week 24) and others showing at China Ireland exhibition , Museu&m Expo Park , Shanghai Nov 2019


Week1 :Blazer Blue oil on canvas 50x50cm Niamh Cuningham/倪芙瑞联 2018
Week 2 Princess of Daxing 50×50 oil on canvas, Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲 2013
Week 3 : Café Praha (C.C) oil on canvas 80x60cm Niamh Cunningham/倪芙瑞莲2010

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中国爱尔兰当代艺术展上海开幕

中国爱尔兰当代艺术展11月29日在上海黄浦区半淞园路移动的头脑博物馆开幕。

Portraits by Niamh Cunningham 倪芙瑞莲的肖像画

11月29日开幕式

爱尔兰驻沪总领事特雷泽·希利在星期五晚上的开幕酒会上致辞,并介绍了五位参展爱尔兰艺术家的作品。


和爱尔兰驻沪总领事特雷泽·希利及出品人许雯在一起

和上海市对外文化交流协会孙丽萍女士交谈。孙女士特地穿了一件艾伦图案毛衣。

1 和上海市对外文化交流协会孙丽萍女士在一起

本次展览也是为庆祝中爱两国建交40周年而举办,由比利时中欧创意文化平台的许雯出品,策展人Lulu。


背景为瑞莲(Niamh Cunningham)作品“水之城–汇园“及肖像画系列
Woodblock Connoisseur CC acrylic Niamh Cunningham /倪芙瑞莲 2019

木版鉴赏家 CC acrylic Niamh Cunningham /瑞莲 2019
Friend to Many CC 100x100cm acrylic on canvas , Niamh Cunningham 倪芙 2019
Week 31: Friend to Many
许多人的朋友 CC 100x100cm acrylic on canvas , Niamh Cunningham 2019
Purple Rain LX 倪芙瑞莲Niamh Cunningham 2019
Week 41:
紫色的雨 Purple Rain LX 倪芙瑞莲Niamh Cunningham 2019

肖像画在上海世博园移动的头脑博物馆展出。

知名策展人黄笃先生为今年早些时候举办的群展“奥德赛——回归”撰文,其中写到我的肖像作品:

这种异样的绘画语言并不只是所谓形式上的突破,而是它的编造带来的是对绘画主观给以碎片化处理,并内化于心的形而上破解,实现图像与记忆交合的感知力,从而建立了新的形象叙事,达到对肖像画的重新界定。

Week 12: Little Singer /小歌唱家 oil on canvas 50x50cm Niamh Cunningham/瑞莲2013
Week 40: In Her Eyes, acrylic on canvas 100x100cm 倪芙瑞莲Niamh Cunningham
Week 40: 在她眼中、In Her Eyes, acrylic on canvas 100x100cm 倪芙瑞莲 Niamh Cunningham
Week 25: 布鲁诺、Bruno Acrylic on canvas Niamh Cunningham 2019
Week 28: Memory Palace G. 麦金尼斯女士 Guli 布面丙烯 50×50厘米 Niamh Cunningham/瑞莲 2019

与此同时,她在这样的创作中力图改造绘画的路径,截断了肖像画过于追求经典化,而是给绘画大胆注入了类似摄影的要素,使切片化形象瞬间建立起主体和语言经验的连接。

Week 24: 独家新闻Scoop -TC oil on canvas 80x 60cm Niamh Cunningham/瑞莲 2010
Week 3 : 布拉格咖啡,Café Praha (C.C) oil on canvas 80x60cm Niamh Cunningham/瑞莲2010

她运用另类绘画的方法解构已存在的诸多艺术创作规则,建立起图像和文学平行的两个世界中真实存在的交合点。

Portraits showing at Museu&m, Expo park Shanghai Nov 29th 倪芙瑞莲Niamh Cunningham
Water City Huiyuan“水之城–汇园“, 100x 300cm Oil on canvas 倪芙瑞莲NIamh Cunningham 2017

在此对所有促成展览的相关人士表示衷心感谢,感谢上海市对外文化交流协会、比利时中欧创意文化交流平台、爱尔兰驻沪领事馆,以及移动的头脑博物馆的大力支持。

下一篇博客将对各位参展艺术家的作品作简要的介绍。

1919 exhibition based on WB Yeats Poem currently showing in Sligo, Ireland

1919-Whirls in the Old Terezin acrylic on canvas 30x30cm Niamh Cunningham 2019

I first saw these unusual black metal disc grave markers (Austro-Hungarian army) on a visit to Terezin in the Czech Republic many years ago. The area was witness to different strife and horror over time. This cyclical horror which Yeats refers to reminds me of this place. The reticulation from the different printing I use on this work I think also reflects traces from the past being relived .

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