Deeper Dark

Kerlin Gallery, Anne’s Lane, South Anne St, Dublin Mon-Fri 10am-5.45pm, Sat 11am- 4.30pm Until May 20 01-6709093

Liliane Tomasko’s work is generally quiet and understated. She likes muted colours in her paintings, and muted forms as well. But, as one commentator noted, all is not quite serene in Tomasko’s imaginative world. An uncertainty underlies her images, and this generates a level of pictorial tension.

Tomasko’s literal subject matter recurs in distinct series of images: bags, stacks of things such as bed linen and clothes, and “window corners” – fragmentary interior views. Each subject is photographed with a Polaroid camera, in disorientating close-up, and she works from the Polaroid images.

We’re not immediately sure what is represented, because the objects and settings are transformed and rendered unfamiliar, as though we’ve just walked into a shaded room, or just woken up. Her paintings have the effect of leading us into momentary uncertainty, reassured by semi-familiarity.

Born in Zurich, Tomasko studied art in London, completing an MA at the Royal Academy in 1998. She’s shown widely abroad, but this is her first solo exhibition in Ireland.

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