Tom Climent Book published by Gandon Editions

A 120-page hardback monograph – with 128 illustrations and a keynote essay by Cristín Leach

 

 

Texts by Mark Ewart, Carissa Farrell, Mary McCarthy and Michael Waldron

 

 

ISBN 978 1910140 529    120 pages (hardback)   23 x 25 cm   128 illus

 

 

This major monograph on the artist Tom Climent documents his work over the last decade or so, although his career spans three decades. His paintings have long
offered a mediation on life, making and being. They embrace and
make visual his understanding of the possibilities of change. For Climent, painting is an act of searching, and his works an invitation to the viewer to join in. From cave-like shelters to abstract terrains, executed in a scintillating explosion of colour, he seeks to capture something dormant that has returned to life.

 

EXTRACT

“Across this body of work, Climent conjures a pull-push between growth and decomposition, stillness and movement, presence and escape. This see-saw could be regarded as a painterly extension of one law of physics: for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is to be found in the relationship between painter and painting, between painting and painting-viewer, between painting as a tool for seeking knowledge and as a container for it. These are pairs of actions, and all of this work emerges from his studio in Cork city, the same workshop he has painted in for the last thirty years. Studio (2024) is a portrait of that place as a kernel, a womb from which all of this can emerge, a nucleus from which it can blossom.
There is lull and crescendo in this work. From the quieter pieces to the more explosive, vibrant blooms, each offers a moment of revelation, showing the circular nature of time and the repeat promises of the seasons. There is hope too in these paintings, in the opening and unfolding of petals and planes, and in their beauty. Climent’s compositions lift the soul with the aesthetic pleasure of encountering them. They provide sanctuary and refuge, visually, emotionally, and, yes, intellectually too. His occasional use of gold paint points to the precious alchemy of it all.”

— Cristín Leach

 

 

CONTENTS A Call to Light: tuning in with Tom Climent   essay by Cristín Leach    page 6 Colour plates    page 12 In its reflection   intro by Mark Ewart    page 20 Aspect   intro by Carissa Farrell    page 30 Everlast   intro by Cristín Leach    page 48 Land and Longing  intro by Mary McCarthy    page 68 Pilgrim   intro by Michael Waldron    page 86 Arrival after Tom Climent   poem by John FitzGerald    page 106 Biography / List of Illustrations    page 118

 

 

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