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A Celebration of Light and Life: the Work of Vincent Crotty
Written by Kieran Jordan
Vincent Crotty paints the scenes and faces we all know. In an age of abstract
expressionism and esoteric contemporary art, Crotty reminds us that sacredness lies in the
mundane – the back gardens of our childhoods, the side streets of our neighbourhoods,
the dawn skies from our bedroom windows, the silent objects in our kitchens.
Vincent’s ability to transform the ordinary into the sublime demonstrates seeing as
an act of appreciation and painting as an act of prayer.
Born in Kanturk, Co. Cork, Ireland, Vincent began painting at age seven when his mother
purchased three art books – Rembrandt, Constable and Van Gogh – from
Reader’s Digest. Vincent would lie on his bedroom floor, copying the Van Gogh book
and producing up to ten little paintings a day. Growing up beside the remains of an Irish
castle, Vincent says his own backyard resembles a Constable painting. Rembrandt, Constable
and Van Gogh, he says, kept him going for ten years. |
