Minutes (2006)

Born in Limerick, Michael Canning’s distinctive and surreally beautiful compositions have won worldwide recognition. Neither landscape nor still life, they convey an atmosphere laden with spiritual undertones. Heavy mists shroud the rolling hills of the Irish landscape which part only for the wild plant. Each painting is built up in layers, using oil paint and wax, the plants being rendered directly from observation (Canning’s studio is strewn with the specimens he collects on his daily walks). Some are remedies; some are poisons. The paintings sometimes include the very substance which the painting depicts: ground earth and ash.