29th August 2025 – Exhibition

Working across painting and sculpture, Hazel O’Sullivan reimagines artefacts and art objects within an immersive retrofuturist narrative. Her paintings frequently interpret forts and mechanisms that open gateways to the mythological Otherworld as a way to connect with pre-colonisation. For Circa Ré, O’Sullivan’s sources include medieval and prehistoric objects, illuminated manuscripts, and sacred grounds. Soaking in this trove of archaeological and artistic references, O’Sullivan then manipulates colour, scale and perspective to create architectural compositions that tap into vernacular traditions and mythologies.

Core to the exhibition are a suite of eight modular paintings, Droichead na Sidhe, which interact to form two cohesive images when hung together. For these works, O’Sullivan draws upon decorative medieval folios to develop abstract forms. Rendered with contemporary painting techniques, the paintings become geometric, illusory – using a trompe-l’œil technique to open up spatial perception and depth.

Circa Ré also includes a triptych of three 300 x 250 cm paintings, the largest O’Sullivan has worked on to date. The central panel reimagines an 8th-century Celtic brooch, found in Lagore Crannog, Co Meath, and now in the British Museum. Through O’Sullivan’s transformations, this palm-sized but intricate object becomes monumental in scale, opened up to encompass a universe of its own, flanked by architectural motifs. Irish artefacts also inform three new sculptures, each based on copper alloy discs from the Iron Age, the original function of which are unknown. O’Sullivan renders them into smooth, monochrome device-like objects – as mysterious and otherworldly as their source material.

FROM