FALTER. CHECK. RESOLVE by Anna Barden
Dates: Tuesday – Friday, 19th August – 29th September 2022
Times: 10am-5pm
Opening Night: Thursday 18th August at 6pm
Backwater Artists Group are proud to present FALTER. CHECK. RESOLVE, an exhibition of work by Anna Barden. The exhibition showcases a set of remarkable chess pieces created from drawings, ceramic works and an accompanying wall text which is a personal memory. FALTER. CHECK. RESOLVE makes reference to the chess game in Samuel Beckett’s novel Murphy wherein the drawings are absurd in that the chess pieces are all horses.
Through the work, the artist creates a world and language of expression using three codes; chess notation, Beckett’s own annotations, and her own. The viewer is invited to explore this world and decipher their own meaning from the pieces.
Lunchtime Tours: There are free Lunchtime Tours of the exhibition every Thursday at 1pm from 25th August – 29th September, led by Backwater Artists Group Programme and Outreach Manager Aoife Hegarty. Please email aoife@backwaterartists.ie to reserve a place for you or a group.
Artists’ Conversation: An Artists’ Conversation with Anna Barden and David Dobz O’Brien from National Sculpture Factory takes place on Thursday 15th September at 6pm, also in Studio 12. Free event, booking required through the Backwater website below.
About the Artist
Anna Barden studied fine art in France and Italian and Mathematics in UCC. Exhibitions include the following solo, and group exhibitions: Solo exhibitions in UCC (1999), the Greenlane Gallery, Dingle (2006) and Seven at The Guesthouse, Cork (2018) which contained seven oil on canvas works accompanied by a letter-form text (Objects Observed), seven drawings (Dead Flowers) and seven chess pieces. Group exhibitions include a two person show in the Vangard Gallery, Cork (2004) with Michael Quane; 126 Gallery, Galway Members’ Exhibition 2008); The Lavit Gallery Members’ Exhibition (2017, 2018, 2021); Backwater Artists Network Exhibition, Studio 12 (2020).
Artist Statement
Anna Barden’s multi-disciplinary practice spans a hybrid of disciplines between drawing, painting, ceramics, text work and writing. In FALTER. CHECK. RESOLVE, ‘Anna has found the perfect integration of elements; text, horses, drawing and collage. Horses remain true to ‘horseness’ but become a new language. The new language is used in a complex game. The spirit of Samuel Beckett is present yet the work is not illustrative. This kind of ‘layered thinking’ is true to Anna, as is her delightful mastery of drawing horses’. – Katherine Boucher Beug, 2021. She is experimenting with both language and form, slipping between disciplines to create a world which is both complex and sparse. A world of paradox: playful and serious, using known symbols yet difficult to fully comprehend. Themes explored include mad pride, Samuel Beckett, language, chess and horses.
More information on Anna Barden at www.annabarden.ie.
