Star Factory: conference exhibition
Crescent Arts Centre, 13 Sep - 22 Oct
Star Factory is a collection of new work by Jonathan Brennan. All works in the current show are woodblocks, i.e. the matrix used to create woodblock prints, yet here the pieces exhibited are the blocks themselves, coated in enamel paint to highlight the raised and carved areas of each block.
Jungalow
Piazza San Pietro
Jonathan Brennan (b. 1978) is an artist living and working in Belfast since 2012. Originally from Dublin, he spent most of the early 2000s in Brussels, Belgium where he studied painting at the École des Arts d’Anderlecht. He previously studied History of Art & Architecture (and Spanish) at Dublin University, Trinity College Dublin and has a MSc in Multimedia Systems. Jonathan is a multi-disciplinary artist working with various visual media such as printmaking, painting, video and photography. He also works with audio and text. His work is about place: architectural and urban places as well as what is traditionally referred to as landscape, and how both interact. He is drawn to the less obvious, the neglected and the abandoned – alleyways, culverted rivers, wastelands, abandoned spaces and objects. Brennan's work is not overtly political, but rather seeks to prompt the viewer into looking with new eyes at the quotidian and to consider the wider forces that seek to manipulate how we think and act. He enjoys collaborating with artists working in other media, in particular music and the written word. Jonathan has exhibited in the Ulster Museum, Golden Thread Gallery, Framewerk, ArtisAnn, Belfast Exposed, Fenderesky, Crescent Arts Centre, Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Mart Gallery, Engage Art Studios and more. His work was published in Winter Papers vol.s 5 and 8. He exhibits regularly with solo and in group shows. His latest solo show ‘Sense of Place’ took place in 2022. Jonathan is a member of the Belfast Print Workshop and Vault Artist Studios.