Knots:
United Field Painting II
John Noel Smith
2001
Oil on canvas
180 x 90 cm

For the past twenty years the painter, John Noel Smith, has been living and working in Berlin. This summer he is returning to Ireland to live with his family in Shrule, Gorey, Co. Wexford. To celebrate his return to Ireland, two major exhibitions of Smith's paintings will be on view in Dublin.

In September, John Noel Smith's fourth solo show will open at the Green on Red Gallery, Dublin. This is his first show at the Gallery in nearly three years. Opening on 6 September - 5 October 2002 this new body of work is informed by a number of concerns to the artist. The notion of identity, language and a sense of place, and displacement, have always filtered through Smith's oeuvre. His systems - whether of Oghams, Tapestries, Palimpsests - when put together, represent a language made up of strong emblematic signs. In this latest body of work, Smith re-employs his earlier series, Ogham, Knots and Spaces to combine these elements into a stunning exhibition of bold and arresting compositions

Running con-currently to the Green on Red Gallery exhibition, John Noel Smith will have a major retrospective exhibition in the Royal Hibernian Academy, Ely Place, Dublin which will run from 6 September to 20 October. This exhibition will review Smith's work from the period 1992 - 2002. Nissan Ireland is graciously sponsoring the exhibition. This is the first in a series of annual exhibitions of Irish artists sponsored by Nissan Ireland. A colour catalogue will accompany the R.H.A. exhibition with an essay by Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith and an interview with the Director of the R.H.A, Patrick T. Murphy.