Paul Moriarty

Drawing upon images held in memory, the artist creates paintings that are allegorical rather than illustrative or anecdotal. Moriarty's work explores the profound psychological relationship between memory and place, shaped by personal and family histories, cultural identity, and the shared memories embedded within communities and landscapes.

Working intuitively, the artist builds each painting through successive layers of delicate oil glazes mixed with damar varnish, gradually introducing areas of rich impasto. The sensory experience of painting, the interplay of colour, light, movement and material, becomes a means of accessing memories and emotional associations with place. Through this process, recollection and sensation converge, allowing the painting to develop beyond its original source.

Central to the artist’s practice is a belief in the physical presence of painting itself. Paint becomes the medium through which memory acquires tangible form. Each work asserts its own presence, moving beyond representation to exist as an evocative, autonomous object in its own right.