The wonderful everyday explored

JUST THE TICKET Pictured at the recent opening of ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’ at the Custom House Studios were Joyce O’Boyle, the artist Bryan Gerard Duffy, Helena O’Boyle and Laura McCloskey.Pic: Conor McKeown

‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’, an exhibition of work by artist Bryan Gerard Duffy recently opened at Westport’s Custom House Gallery.
Duffy’s work investigates notions of psychological and physical displacement. A mixed media artist, he enjoys translating relationships with the dispensable, where collected paraphernalia and found objects become the metaphor.
Reflecting on the nature of the everyday, such as repetition and the mundane, Duffy juxtaposes the worldly with the sublime, fantastical and mythical. His artworks are magical in their simplistic and familiar form, where the reconfigured material is unrefined in its process.
The art becomes a conversation of drawing lines and crossing lines, both physically and metaphysically.
With its allusions from the familiar 1939 film ‘The Wizard of Oz’, this exhibition, sets out on a comparable ‘Yellow Brick Road’ journey that examines society’s virtual and fantastical relationships with social media streams.
Extracted from Duffy’s own Instagram feed, the recurring ‘Add a Comment’ refrain invites the gallery visitor to partake in an impossible activity. On one hand, the power to pry is granted, while on the other, the ability to participate is restricted. And so the show asks, ‘Where does the gallery reside, and who is the viewer?’
 
‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’, by Bryan Gerard Duffy, is on show at Westport’s Custom House Gallery until February 21.