Declan Halpin' s exciting three - dimensional abstract wall sculptures combine form and color to create works that intrigue and involve the viewer in their unique use of material and their unexpected arrangements of familiar geometry. Thus these sculptures, aluminum, layered constructions, painted mostly in rich, burnished tones, present the viewer with a provocative complexity of composition and color, a kind of visual puzzle - created structurally - using shaped, welded metal and paint. They are simply beautiful to look at, and really, that is enough; but there's something else; the sense of a hidden joke we can't quite get, or a secret just beneath the surface that wants to be told. Halpin admits frankly that his work is about human psychology, that he is "mapping the ways in which we, as emotional, thinking creatures, interpret the world around us."
This work explores the sensation of existing within a group. I present social interaction through codified schematics; transforming ordinary and extraordinary moments into situational roadmaps. Daily circumstances (accidental bumpings, misinterpretations, check-out counter interactions) are achieved as simplified forms, colors and texture. Our momentous happenings get simplified into a more digestible form, like legends for a complex map."
While isolated decisions are still at the heart of Declan's work, he has begun to consider the implications of these decisions en masse. This new series examines mob rule, propaganda, mass hysteria, and l'esprit de corps as they apply to individuality and the shape (literally, in this case) of society. By contrasting the absent, cut-away shapes with the overall structure, Halpin alludes to a "loss of self" that occurs within a group.
Declan Halpin was born in Sligo, Ireland, and grew up in North Carolina. He received a BFA with concentrations in Metals, Painting, and Sculpture in 2000 from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. Halpin began his artistic journey through his love of drawing and his early attraction to jewelry making - working with fine metals - gold, silver, and copper. Over time, these interests have come together in the sculptural paintings exhibited here. He is regularly exhibited in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. His work is represented in both corporate and private collections throughout the USA and Europe. He is a lending artist to the DeCordova Museum's corporate program and a lecturer for Golden Artist Colors. He was featured in an exhibition in May 2006 at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, MA.
ERNDEN FINE ART GALLERY is pleased to represent Declan Halpin. For more information on Declan's work, please contact Dennis Costin, Gallery Director at 508-487-6700 or 1-888-304-ARTS, or www.erndengallery@att.net
