Doris exhibits in Ballina and Westport

MONOCHROME EXPLORATIONS In ‘Who Goes There’, Chris Doris inquires into ideas of self and a rural society on an ambiguous edge between disintegration and renewal.

‘Who Goes There’, exhibitions by Mayo- and Dublin-based artist Chris Doris, opened on Saturday last, May 20, in Westport and in Ballina. The shows inquire into ideas of self and a rural society on an ambiguous edge between disintegration or renewal as old structures and resources give way and new potentialities arise.
Large-scale monoprints, open paintings and a series of landscape works on paper utilise a balance of text and image to evoke the freedom in observing phenomenal reality as contingent and empty of permanence and inherent substantiality.
This perspective is applied in black and white, in the context of post-crash rural Ireland, so-called ‘austerity’, economic and social duress, dubious truths in the public space and a questioning of fundamental tenets of social and personal meaning.
A further element to this event in three parts is a monumental composite work on sandpaper which portrays the self as a process, contingent and empty of inherent substantiality. Being is made visible through witnessing the proliferation of mental objects as the self constellates in each moment of relationship.
Doris work has explored the nature of human presence, being and self-hood for 30 years in award-winning painting, print and drawings and ground-breaking public artworks called ‘public inquiries’ which bring modes of observation from meditation, mindfulness and psychotherapy to relational inquiries in art contexts.

‘40 Days and 40 Nights’
His ‘40 Days and 40 Nights’ (1999) on Croagh Patrick initiated these works and is credited with being key in establishing socially engaged, process-based public art work as a norm in Ireland.
‘Who Goes There’ is Chris Doris’s first solo exhibition in eight years, having taken a sabbatical to complete a Masters in Mindfulness Based Psychotherapy with Middlesex University and a Diploma and clinical training in Core Process Psychotherapy in Devon. He has also more recently trained as a life coach.
Doris’s work as a professional healer and colour therapist, and his 25 years practice as a Raj yoga meditation preceptor, has underpinned and grounded his art work in practical and theoretical research.
Doris’s clinical practice in Dublin and Mayo has shifted from trauma work to a creative performance consultancy for creative professionals. Born in Surrey, England, in 1962, Chris Doris lives and works in Lacken, north Mayo, and Dublin.

‘Who Goes There’ runs at the Custom House Studios and Gallery,The Quay, Westport, until June 11, and at Ballina Arts Centre, Barrett St, Ballina, until June 17. An e-book catalogue will accompany the two ‘Who Goes There’ shows.