Solomon Fine Art is delighted to host ‘Cast a Spell’ - a much anticipated solo exhibition of new work by artist Margo Banks. The exhibition includes a range of Banks’s popular mixed media studies of Irish wildlife and sees the artist revisit her sculpture practice with the inclusion of a new work in bronze.
In her large, energetic works on paper Banks strives to capture the freedom, autonomy and sense of otherness enjoyed by creatures of the wild. Familiar wild Irish birds and fauna such as the hare, fox and gannet and are masterfully observed and portrayed. In this new body of work Banks also pays homage to their domestic counterparts – the trustworthy hound.
Banks grew up in Clontarf in County Dublin with sweeping views of Dublin Bay and began painting at the age of thirteen. After a period of fifteen years living in Spain, Banks returned to Dublin with her three young children and began to re-engage with her art practice, initially working in ceramics and from there moving into bronze sculpture, before returning to drawing and painting. Much of the artist’s inspiration comes from the wild landscape of the west of Ireland and in particular her late mother’s home of Teeromoyle in South West Kerry where the artist regularly visits.
Banks is a Fellow of the Ballinglen Arts Foundation and has exhibited widely around Ireland including the Royal Hibernian Academy and Royal Ulster Academy. Her work is included in the collections of the Office of Public Works, Enterprise Ireland and Cill Rialaig Arts Centre and in private collections across Ireland, the US, UK and Holland.
