Gwen O'Dowd has always searched for the sublime in her paintings - be it the monumentality of the Grand Canyon, or less obvious places, such as discrete rock pools. Interestingly, this exhibition strikes a middle ground, as coastline settings can be interpreted as either large towering cliff-faces or small fissures studied at close range.
Identifying the exact source for these works seems less important than the finer principles requisite in their production. The main concern is an ever-evolving sensibility towards the painted surface, where wax is used to lend translucence to water, or texture to rock surfaces.
This gradual layering of rich variegated surfaces teeters on the brink of painterly expression - until, that is, the artist once again gains control, so as to lend refinement to the finish.
The keystone, though, of each painting's success was making sure that the above-mentioned effects would not threaten or distract from a considered arrangement of pictorial composition.
Throughout, there is a wonderful balance between separate planes of rich colour, the luminous white of ocean foam and the bold focal point of black rectangles/rhomboids re presenting deep, almost mysterious, recesses in the rock.
The emphasis of each seems to change with repeated viewing, a flux heightened on the day I viewed the exhibition by the way in which light entered the gallery space - a sensation not too far removed from a James Turrell installation.
The analogy is not that unrealistic, as some of the paintings do seem to be challenging the boundaries between abstraction and observation, offering a vision of landscape which transcends place by hinting at the potential for conceptual spaces rooted in our sub consciousness.
Continues at the Vangard until October 3rd.