WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART MONDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2022

106 75 Donald Teskey RHA (b.1956) SHORELINE II, 2001 oil on canvas signed and dated lower right; signed, dated, titled and with Rubicon Gallery label on reverse 24 by 30in. (61 by 76.2cm) Frame Dimensions: 30.25 by 36.25in. (76.8 by 92.1cm) Provenance: Rubicon Gallery, Dublin; Private collection; Adam’s, 28 March 2007, lot 80; Private collection Exhibited: ‘Donald Teskey’, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, 3-28 April 2001 “Lots of people paint the sea and everyone seems to do it differently it wasn’t how I came to painting... I actually wanted to paint the land, the rocks, the shadows and the cracks in the rocks, the drawing, the way that nature seemed to just make paintings all of its own within the geological formations around it and the sea was a kind of scrape of paint in the background and that’s how it began really as paint on the surface.” 1 Donald Teskey’s early work focused on urban landscape, the drama of light and its interaction between architectural settings and the patterns thrown up by the different elements within that space. Later, when he ventured further afield beyond the confines of the cities he tackled vast rural environments with the same approach and found it worked and to great effect. The catalyst for this change in direction was a fellowship at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in 1996 which brought him to Ballycastle in North Mayo. Returned residencies took place there in 2001 (when the present work was executed) and in 2002. The wildness of the sea is reflected in Teskey’s physical application of the paint which is aggressively impastoed, often applied with a trowel rather than the traditional brush while the scale of the canvases increased to accommodate the great expanse of his subject. The Rubicon exhibition in 2001, which included the present work, focused firmly on the sea, Irish coastline and maritime architecture gleaned from several trips to West Cork, Connemara and North Mayo. Adelle Hughes August 2022 1 “And that’s how it began”Donald Teskey explains his love of painting the sea | The Works Presents 2 June 2020 https://www.rte.ie/player/ €25,000-€35,000 (£21,550-£30,170 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot75