Last year we had an incredible amount of interest in the work of artist Jimmy Lawlor.
A reaction like that gets you thinking about the merits of the artist and also the reasons why people are buying his work.
Also because a gallery owner literally lives with the work of an artist, he has an advantage of seeing emerging themes in the work, discovering different levels on which the art works, and the advantage of sharing the joy the art brings with admirers and the general public.
Several years ago, Sol Art linked up with Jimmy Lawlor and started to show his work in different exhibitions.
I had always been an admirer, but the opportunity to work with and for Jimmy has been a rewarding experience.
Last year, although hugely successful in Ireland, when we took the work out of Ireland, we began to see how powerful the work was.
It was at the Cambridge Art Festival and The Sol Art team were driving to the venue when we noticed that a lot of the signage promoting the show had images of Jimmy`s paintings on them. Then when we got to the entrance to the show,another of Jimmy`s
images was the feature painting on show.
Throughout that weekend, among the thousands who viewed our stand, many were taken with his work and several were sold.
The giggles, titters, belly laughs were in abundance when people stopped at his work.
The show organizers had fallen in love with the work as well, hence all the publicity images.
A little while later when in London, and discussing some of the Sol Art artists with fellow gallerists, one leading gallery owner stopped on Jimmy`s work and uttered ” now that is a seriously good artist” I was definetely encouraged, and then later when displaying his work in Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh, the result was the same. People kept stopping and appreciating his paintings.
This proved to me That Jimmy`s work crosses national divides.
There is something in his work which is universal.
So what is it the universal appeal?
If you ask Jimmy himself you will be more than likely greeted with a bemused stare.
“I just do the painting, others can do the talk” he replies with a smile in his eyes.
It reminds me of a folklore tale about a centipede who was a wonderful dancer, and an envious person wanted to disrupt his performance. Just ask him which leg he starts to dance with first and which leg second, the envious person`s friend said. So on being asked the question, the centipede became confused and could never dance properly again because he was too absorbed in the mechanics of his performance.
This will not be the case with Jimmy!
When I was in Edinburgh an American art critic stopped and we chatted for quite a while about Jimmy. We had four works on display, “Entertaining a Notion”, “Location, Location, Location”, “Encore” and “Paper Trail” ( which have all subsequently been sold).
We homed in on “Paper Trail”.
The first thing you have to say about Jimmy’s paintings is that they are brilliantly executed.
He is a very detailed painter. If you just took this as a landscape painting, there would be few to match it today in Ireland. The isolated mountainous scene, the heather in the bog, the stream meandering down from the hill, the mist rising. Fabulously done.
And then you have these little paper swans, floating down the river, all the way to the foreground. What does it mean?
Undoubtedly it is a clever idea, and a wonderful way to express a commonly used phrase which is the hallmark of Jimmy`s work.
As ever, it is humourous and the image just makes you smile.
Yet all of us know that in the world today, a paper trail, can be an absolutely onerous affair, albeit essential from a legal and business viewpoint. But how much does our slavery to these paper proofs, drain away from our very lifeforce, would we not rather be in the restorative realms of Jimmy`s mountain retreat, perhaps in the company of his very unthreatening childlike paper swans?
Location, Location, Location throws up images of pacing up and down Grafton st., looking at the billboards, Savilles, Lisney.., trying to find the best place to locate a new pressure cooker buisness. Forward on to Jimmy`s image of same. A small girl in a wonderous pose, gazing at the huge snails which is her life (and more important to her than Grafton street and the likes). The snails shells are also the most important location for them!
So the question is, is this Jimmy, gently reminding us that our breakneck civilization is making us lose out on the simpler things around us which are essential for the human spirit?
Jimmy has a little “team” of ducks in the land around his house, which he always takes pleasure in showing me when I visit. One of them made their way into the painting called “Fusspot”. It’ a painting which everyone admires when they see it on my brochure, but for me it represents another recurring aspect to Jimmy’ work. After seeing that work, I now always see those ducks in a different way. They are a little civilization themselves in their own right, at least as important as any other on this planet. Also you will regularly see sea gulls in Jimmy’s work. I was crossing Capel st. bridge recently and a bunch of seagulls flew past. Again that same impression occured. It is as though Jimmy is saying, “open your eyes to what is around you, there are fascinating things happening here, but you could be missing them”. And of course Jimmy’s dogs are a regular feature in his work. “Pigs back”, you see the gentleman on the chair, looking over at the incoming pig, but in tandem you see the expression of the dog. The same thing with his cow paintings. There is a such an endearing representation of each of the animals that for me, points back to the previous important role animals had in different societies, in particular the native indian americans. They held that animals were essential companions to man, having a healing and restorative power to the human spirit.
And then again there are Jimmy’s people.
“Entertaining a Notion”. He is out on a rock in the middle of the sea, a sea thats probably rising, but he is playing for all that he is worth. He is thoroughly enjoying himself, he is dressed for the occasion, his audience is the ocean and the gulls. It is such a refreshing image.
Whats his reward? Just the sheer joy of playing. ‘Encore’ contains both the animal theme and the mans simple pleasure. And of course ‘Jam Session’. The dog is the audience. But the sheer excellence of the execution of this work is what impresses and of course the humour.
Some of work is, of course. just pure humour.
“Taking the Piss”. Brilliantly executed as ever and many other work besides.
Jimmy Lawlor to me is a very good investment artist. If his work takes off in America which i think it will, I think we will be adding a zero at the end of his current price. His particular pieces will be collectors items and people will try to get particular one`s for their collection. We regularly sell his work straight from our website, especially into the UK. People there are seeing his art investment potential. Even now we have a waiting list for his next work. So Don`t say you havent been warned….
Best wishes, Martin
