Through his projects, Irish artist Sean Lynch develops representations of idiosyncratic moments from the past, perhaps almost-forgotten, but which have left a trail of objects, events or narratives. Endeavouring to track down and investigate these sidelined histories, Lynch brings disparate threads of research together in photographic and slide projection installations, prefabricated or found artefacts and small-scale publications.<\/p>\n
A blow-by-blow account of stone carving in Oxford<\/em> is an installation exploring the work and contemporary context of nineteenth century stone carvers John and James O\u2019Shea, whose naturalistic renditions of animals and plants are still visible in locations in Dublin and Oxford.<\/p>\n Sean Lynch\u2019s work references these sites as being alive with diverse allegorical and associative meanings and encourages a reappraisal of what their work might signify today.<\/p>\n At Modern Art Oxford Lynch has arranged a variety of objects in the gallery space, including a museum loan from the Pitt Rivers, signage from a fried chicken outlet in London, and a carving of a monkey completed by carver Stephen Burke in the style and ethos of O\u2019Sheas. These seemingly unrelated objects intertwine into a narrative around museum culture, public space and individual agency, as a slide projection with scripted voiceover argue for the ethnographical relevance of the O\u2019Sheas to the identity of Oxford.<\/p>\n