Lot 15: mf - Theo McNab , b. 1940 Fluxion Two-one-Two canvas construction

canvas construction

76 by 178 by 11.5cm.; 30 by 70 by 4½in.

Dublin, David Hendriks Gallery, Theo McNab, 1975.

David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, whence purchased by the present owner, 1975

McNab respresented Ireland at the prestigious International Painting festival at Cagnes - sur - Mer in 1975, the year of the present work. The monotone colour of Fluxion Two - one - Two is typical of his work from the period where a minimalist tonal range allowed the artist to explore his ongoing concern with the relationship between light and space through three dimensional relief and large scale construction. His particular emphasis on abstract relief relates to the wider context of geometic abstraction in Ireland during the 1970s and in particular to artists such as Roy Johnston and works such as Johnston's Sixteen Rotated Forms (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) (1975, Coll. Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin). Born in Dublin, McNab was self - taught and was Head of Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin from 1988 - 2000. He was awarded the Carrolls Award at the 1971 Irish Exhibition of Living Art and in 1976 won the Scott Tallon Walker Prize at the Oireachtas Exhibition. Elected to Aosdána in 1981, McNab's works are held in major Irish public collections including those of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and the University of Limerick.