RVCC Projects is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Manchester-based artist Emmett Donlon (b. 1997). Donlon’s artistic practice includes painting, video, multimedia and fiber art, and through his work he explores themes of queer identity, politics, celebrity, and mortality. In his paintings, Donlon frequently appropriates images from newspapers and magazines and uses them as the basis of his figurative work. At times, the characters he chooses take on subtle distortions and exaggerated features that occur as the result of translating the photographic image into its painted counterpart. 

Shifts in perspective and proportion sometimes add a feeling of fragility to the portraits or heighten their mystery. Donlon’s lushly painted surfaces prompt the viewer to look more closely at the formal qualities of the painting like brushstroke, color, and paint application. The initial flash of recognition one might experience in a portrait of Judy Garland, Pat Nixon or Mia Farrow gives way to a sense of uncanniness that makes Donlon’s work resonate whether you are familiar with the subject in the painting or not. 

Also on view is a selection of landscapes done on-site, from life.  Like the portraits, there’s a familiarity inherent to these locales: a crisp pool of water, a field, a forest glen. However, the swiftness of brushstroke and fleeting quality of the scenes imparts an abstract element to the images: they evince the rift between the thing itself and its re-presentation. This sense of immediacy and familiarity link these two distinct, yet interconnected series. 

Artist’s Statement: Emmett Donlon holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University. His work mostly explores the intersections between personal and shared histories, gathering references from pop culture, historical archives, and personal collections. The absurdity of life and death often consumes his time.