Press Release
You Had Another Skin (The Super 8 Series)
New work by Cecilia Danell
February 22nd – April 2nd 2011
Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 22nd from 6pm.
EIGHT
“I held your hand. You had another skin. I believed all you told me”
– J.P Sartre, The Room
The series of paintings presented in You Had Another Skin (The Super 8 Series) are part of an ongoing body of work and look at the house as a metaphor for the psyche and the human condition, referencing Jungian dream theory.
In October 2010 Cecilia Danell travelled to Sweden and documented a number of semi-abandoned villages in rural areas, which resulted in the Super 8 film You had another skin. These paintings are stills from the film; every building depicted is derelict, left behind to slowly decay while silence and lost ambitions turn Utopia into Dystopia. The title holds many meanings, including the proverbial act of shedding one’s skin which points to a transition or reinvention, here seen in the transformation of a place. There is also the suggestion that the skin may act as a mask or ‘persona’, shrouding the real self, leading to the philosophical question of ‘the Other’ as being something different from us but also a possible aspect of the self – ‘you had an-other skin’.
Cecilia Danell is a Swedish artist based in Galway since 2004 and a member of Engage Art Studios. She graduated from the GMIT in 2008 with a first class honours degree in painting and was awarded Paint student of the year. She has exhibited in Ireland and the USA including group and two person shows in the Galway Arts centre, 126 Gallery, Red House Arts Center in Syracuse NY, Crow Gallery, Dublin, Claremorris Open (2007, 2010), where she was one of the 2007 prize winners, and most recently Tulca Season of Visual Arts. Danell is a recipient of an Arts Council Bursary Award for 2011.
EIGHT supports both local and international artists in a unique curatorial programme that combines high art and high food. Owner Tom Sheridan and his team are dedicated to providing a modern approach to hospitality in Galway.
The food at EIGHT is unique, hearty and sourced locally. It is produced by the legendary Michelin Star trained chef Jess Murphy. Murphy has just been named the Best Chef in Connaught 2010 by Food & Wine Magazine and 2011 Bridgestone Guide’s “Top 10 Hot Chefs to Watch”. EIGHT, Bar and Restaurant has also been ‘Highly Commended’ for the Restaurant of The Year Awards 2010 by Food & Wine Magazine and was one of the finalists for the Good Food Ireland Top Regional Member in the West Award
www.ceciliadanell.com
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EIGHT, Bar & Restaurant • Galway, Ireland • 8 Dock Road, Galway • Phone: 091 565111 • Email: info@eight.ie