Lot 5 Stephen McKenna SANTA LUCIA, 2007

Stephen McKenna PPRHA, 1939-2017
SANTA LUCIA, 2007
Oil on canvas, 35 1/2" x 47 1/2" (90 x 120.6cm).

Provenance: Kerlin Gallery, Dublin; Private Collection.

Exhibited: Kerlin Gallery, Dubin, Stephen McKenna, 'Contrasts & Complementaries' 15th Sept - 13th Oct 2007.

The 2007 Kerlin exhibition,Contrasts & Complementaries,comprised a number of McKenna's large scale paintings which are based on studies made in the port cities of Naples, Porto and Lisbon. The two words of the exhibitions titlerefer not only to the subjects but also the procedures of painting them. The water of a port complements the land of the bay or river banks which enclose it. The form of a city is determined by the geography of its site, just as the natural surroundings are adapted to the exigencies of the human activity in it. The cities are seen at dawn and dusk, by day and by night, in fog and in sunlight. But the paintings are more than topographical images. They are abstractions as well as observations, and their construction is based on the contrast of vertical and horizontal space, using perspectival grids which support contrasting or closely similar tones, and the complementary pairs of colours yellow and violet, red and green, blue and orange.

(ref. kerlin.ie)