CLÉA VAN DER GRIJN A fearless and deeply introspective artist, Sligo-based Cléa delves into themes of memory, perception, and mortality through her striking mixed media paintings. Her work is an exploration of loss, tradition, and the passage of time, and she often draws inspiration from Mexican Día de los Muertos rituals, and personal experiences of grief. Van der Grijn's art challenges viewers to reconsider how we process memory and cultural narratives surrounding death.
With a career spanning over three decades, Cléa has exhibited extensively in Ireland and internationally, including shows at the Luan Gallery, the Butler Gallery, and the Royal Hibernian Academy. Her multidisciplinary approach extends beyond painting into film and sculpture, adding depth to her ongoing investigation of memory, and the human condition.
Her recent exhibition, ORB/VA at Solomon Fine Art in March, presented dreamlike compositions that blur the boundaries between reality and imagination. Layers of oil paint, wax, and glazes create a haunting, almost ethereal quality, inviting the viewer into a world of shifting perspectives. This body of work, like much of her practice, is as much about presence as it is about absence - her luminous, abstracted figures and landscapes evoke a sense of fleeting moments suspended in time.
If you missed this recent solo exhibition then be sure to see Solomon Fine Art's Spring Group Show, where Cléa's work will hang alongside artists such as Margo Banks, Jean Bardon and Eilis O'Connell, opening April 2 and running until April 26.
