David Lunney

Gorse Collector (sitting on a stump)

My work for Altered Terrain is a 3d model of my recent sculpture Gorse Collector.

Gorse Collector, like most of my sculptures is a highly reflective, portable photographic device which I use to reflect, contort and refract the natural environment. When I bring these sculptures to The Dublin Mountains the resulting imagery is a very detailed uncanny mix of patterns, shiny surfaces and trees, rocks, sky and forest floor.

For Altered Terrain I decided to take a step back from this process and document the sculpture in situ using Polycam, an app and process. I was unfamiliar with. I travelled to Ticknock Forest on Three Rock Mountains and sat Gorse Collector on a stump and started snapping, I was delighted with the results.

Location: The Dublin Mountains

about David:

My artistic practice involves the undertaking of protracted art processes. Typically, these processes start with the construction of site-specific or portable sculptural works which are brought to The Dublin and Wicklow Mountains. These sculptures are generally created less for their inherent value but rather to provide photographic source material for documentary artworks.

The resulting documentary artworks can take the form of prints, drawings or photographs. These images are rendered, framed and presented in a fashion which intentionally obscures and embellishes the original object, vista and moment that they represent.

In these artworks, it is often the relationship between representational imagery and it’s surrounding abstract visual information which infers the processes and concepts behind the work. The works have a self-contained narrative; the concept and the material process are intrinsically linked in the artworks discussion of it’s provenance.

I work as an art technician fine art picture framer. Access and familiarity with the tools and materials as been a boon to my art practice. I have applied new and innovative framing techniques to existing tropes within my practice. This has resulted in a hyper-detailed idiosyncratic style of which I am very proud.

I have recently exhibited in the Douglas Hyde Gallery in From Here to There (October ’21 - February ’22). This exhibition, which started with a six week residency in the gallery was an ever evolving installation which was altered and tweaked as the run continued. In June 2022 I undertook a series of workshops in DHG in which my string techniques are explored. In September 2024 I will be having a solo exhibition in the Royal Hibernian Academy called Silver Thicket.

Images:

1.Gorse Collector (sitting on a stump), 3D scan

2. This is Gorse Collector out in its natural environment

3. Hawthorn, This image was made using Gorse Collector on Saggart Hill