Tonight sees the opening of our annual March Mostra and there is much anticipation around the BSR to see the new works by our current resident artists and architects produced over the last three months. To round off our Meet the Artists blog series, we bring you Neil McNally, Abbey Fellow in Painting.
Neil McNally has a conceptual approach to painting that questions the fundamental roots of the medium. Using the briefest of gestures and brushstrokes, McNally often declares a work complete at the first available opportunity. Believing that there is now little new that can be done with painting, McNally is engaged in the medium’s endgame, playing the final moves again and again without ever reaching its conclusion: ‘I do not believe I can invent something new in art or painting because whatever I would want to invent already exists.’ Rather than invent something new, McNally’s restrained brushstrokes leave a canvas open and full of possibilities. Like an unfinished sentence, his works leave the viewer guessing what might happen next.
“I am an author, dreamweaver, visionary. Plus actor. Whilst in Rome I have been swimming the Tiber, learning Latin and studying mime. During the day I create masterpieces. International scholars of renown admire my exquisite works. In the evening I go to the opera or the ballet. Seeking inspiration and distraction from the rigours of artistic creation I sometimes visit a nearby church to take in the divine architecture or to listen to Baroque music played on period instruments. Today I share a small photo essay of new work, new friends and new inspirations”. (Neil McNally)
All photos by Neil McNally
Neil’s work will be exhibited alongside the five resident artists in the March Mostra; open 16.30-19.00, Saturday 18 March until Saturday 25 March 2017, closed Sundays.
Life at the BSR 
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