A STUNNING collection of painstakingly rendered artworks have gone on display at the Bia restaurant at the Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich.
Farhad O'Neill – one-time artist-in-residence at the Conway Mill – has put on the exhibition after returning to Belfast following a 17-year stint in his native Canada.
Entitled Loquens per Velamen (Speaking through the Veil), the exhibition is made of two detailed and striking illustrations inspired by medieval mysticism and narratives of the period.
"It was that period of time when science and alchemy were sort of mixed together," Farhad explained. "You would call that art that's inspired by natural philosophy.
"The other section of the exhibition is illustrations which are based on specific medieval narratives like The Song of Roland, or the Nibelungenlied or Tristan and Isault."
Farhad's coloured illustrations, which make up one section of his exhibition, feature themes as far flung as conversations with the dead, time travel and transmutation.
They were completed at a time when he was working on a commission sculpting the Marian Doors for St Michael’s Cathedral Basilica in Toronto, which feature the entire Rosary.
Though the latter project kept him busy from 2014 to 2019, Farhad insists it's "advantageous" to "do something different at night".
"The doors themselves were medieval in origin because the Rosary that we have comes to us at the time of St Dominic, which is 11th Century," Farhad added.
"This is at the period of time when all of this magic, the occult, natural philosophy, mysticism, early science, engineering, and mechanics are all mixing together.
"It was a very creative period of time. It's not the Dark Ages at all. A lot of that had to do with individual artists or makers as they were called always working in isolation. They were very concerned with nature and spirituality and science. These were the same type of tools that I used to make those doors in terms of my approach to composition.
"In your evening hours it's good to be able to let go a little bit, move into the abstract and have some fun – that's what the coloured illustrations are. They deal with very fantastical images."
The other section of the Cultúrlann display – rendered in gold and black ink – feature heroic tales of violence, love, sex, god, death and even quests such as the story of Arthur and the Holy Grail.
"These type of stories – you couldn't beat it with a big stick – but those are quite challenging because you have to read the narratives and the quality of the writing is over the top," Farhad added.
"There was a whole process of reading it, making notes, and then curating the content so that you only have sections from the narrative that have the most punch in terms of visual image, and then making the composition."
All the pieces in the exhibition have been carefully composed to look like they are ancient pieces.
The coloured illustrations started as black line drawings on paper, but were treated with oil pastel, covered with black pastel and then scraped to give the desired effect.
"That's why they look like wood cuts," Farhad explained.
His black and gold items were drawn millimetre by millimetre in ink.
"I was very pleased with the result," he added. "The entire show is called Loquens per Velamen, which is Latin for Speaking through the Veil. It means speaking with the dead."
Farhad thanked the team – Gerard, Brónagh and Gráinne – at An Chultúrlann for allowing him to display his works.
All items on display are for sale. Those wishing to purchase a piece is encouraged to speak to a member of staff.
