Alan Raggett Ireland
My name is Alan Raggett, I am a visual artist living and working in Co. Dublin In the past 18 months I have built a new studio at my home, have been selected for several group shows, awarded bursaries from Arts council of Ireland and Fingal Co.Co. and had my work selected for presentation to the previous Director of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion, as she embarked on an exciting new career
My work deals with the abstraction and retelling of the source image. Images, found and self-documented, are retold by means of collage, rephotographing, cropping and manipulation. These manipulated images become the starting points for my paintings.
In my practice, I work primarily in oil paint. My paintings deal with ideas of materiality, process, and narrative. Source material from social media platforms as well as self-documentation and personal family heritage form a starting point to explore ideas of contemporary storytelling.
When thinking about the abstraction of retelling an image, I’m interested in being guided by the destruction of a painted surface and building on the layer that is left behind.
In this process each painting can grow up to 40 layers deep. I have attempted to refine this process by reducing the number of layers created. Time between layers is spent studying the destroyed work surface. Mark making becomes more considered.
