The Model

Frank Conway: become

Free / become is a film portrait of influential Sligo sculptor Fred Conlon, filmed six weeks before he died from a brain tumour in 2005.

Fred Conlon was a native of Easkey, Co Sligo. A graduate and lecturer of sculpture at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, he returned to Sligo in 1972 and was instrumental in developing the art department at Sligo’s Institute of Technology. He lectured in sculpture and drawing until 1989, when he took early retirement to devote his time to being a professional sculptor.

The Model is delighted to showcase the work of artist Frank Conway. Informed by the life and work of another of Sligo’s finest artists and investigating themes of impermanence and perception, ‘become’ is an expression of the profound effect of the physical and emotional trauma experienced by Colons’ encounter with fatal illness.

In front of four projected screens, the spectator stands between the image of the artist and the arc of his experience; the body under the gaze of the surgeon; the work of art under the scrutiny of the artist; between a man and what he confronts as he approaches death.

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