Cristín Leach | Review of Latitudes | Dunamaise Arts Centre | The Sunday Times | February 2018
Cork-Based painter Tom Climent has been honing his approach to abstraction for more than 20 years. This show which features fantastical landscapes in which mountains and rocky outcrops take the form of multifaceted geometric structures. They sit under pink, purple or turquoise skies, jewel-like, in shades of cerise pink, green, orange, blue and golden yellow. Climent is a remarkable colourist. His work is quietly uplifting, even spiritual. It offers a glimpse into another beautiful and majestic dimension. The paintings have one-word titles. Plume features a shape like a cluster of colourful crystals, a rare geode in an alien vista. Butte and Mantle show a pair of rounded boulders. Andlang depicts a more traditional mountain-scape, seen through an entirely pink lens. Climent uses sand and plaster to give texture to the surfaces. There are no intimations of buildings in this show. These rainbow crags seem to have been sprung from the artist’s imagination but feel real, unidentified places that appear ancient and new at once. Strong, inspirational painting from one of Ireland’s best abstractionists.
Dunamaise Arts Centre, Church Road, Portlaoise, Co.Laois, Ireland www.dunamaise.ie