a transcendental timelessness: the paintings and sculptures of liam belton

Irish Arts Review

A Transcendental Timelessness: The Paintings and Sculptures of Liam BeltonAuthor(s): Peter MurraySource: Irish Arts Review Yearbook, Vol. 18 (2002), pp. 133-145Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25488317 .

Accessed: 12/06/2014 19:36

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Irish Arts Review is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Irish Arts ReviewYearbook.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.79.22 on Thu, 12 Jun 2014 19:36:43 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=iar

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25488317?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


A Transcendental Timelessness

The Paintings and Sculptures of Liam Belton

^B^^^^HBk ^m*^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^B?v~ <*??'^^n[^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H?n^9HHli^^^^^^^^^^^^l

1. Liam BELTON RHA (b.1947): Self-portrait. 1991. Oil on board and mixed media, 38 x 81 cm. (National Self-Portrait Collection, Limerick). 'Decay...is a central theme of this work. These objects have a tactile pathos and they force one to confront...one's own transient ephemeral existence...'

The

Peppercannister Gallery, tucked into the basement of No 5 Herbert

Street, takes its name from the green

domed Neo-Classical church on nearby

Upper Mount Street. In February last, the gallery's white-painted rooms were

home to an exhibition of recent paint

ings and sculptures by Liam Belton. The twenty-eight paintings

were modest in scale, with a limited colour range. In terms of

subject matter they divided into several groups; studies of interi

ors, still-life arrangements and studies of the entrance to the

megalithic tomb at Newgrange. There were two studies of interi

ors, so minimalist that they could be more correctly described as

abstract compositions. The paintings suited the quiet and

accommodating atmosphere of the galleries. There were also

two plaster sculptures, of abstract, tower-like, forms. The exhibi

tion gave a good idea of the range of Belton's work, although it

did not include any of his larger mixed-media paintings, which

he produces specifically to show at the annual exhibition of the

Royal Hibernian Academy. In the still-life paintings, the objects arranged on the white

table-tops are simple in form: eggs, ceramic bowls, bars of soap

and blocks of cheese. Belton's still-lifes are reminiscent of the

works of Giorgio Morandi but he depicts his objects with an aus

tere intensity that is quite unlike Morandi. In most of Belton's

paintings, whether still-life or abstract, the picture plane is

divided into halves or squared off in quadrants. These sections

are then painted in slightly contrasting tones of white, grey, light ochres or sienna, the artist's favourite colours. The handling of

oil paint is careful and precise, particularly in the way ovoid or

Peter Murray

introduces the work of the

Keeper of the

Royal Hibernian Academy

curved forms are depicted, and although

the backgrounds are determinedly flat

the borders where two areas of paint

meet are often left slightly ragged. The

paintings are outwardly simple in com

position and execution but the appear

ance of simplicity is deceptive. The

placing and relationship of objects, shapes and lines is carefully considered by the artist. This gives the paintings both an analyt

ical and also a spiritual quality, as if by interrogating these inani

mate objects the artist feels they may reveal some hidden truth.

The artist is candid about the real subject matter of his art: 'I

am after a transcendental stillness or timelessness, imbued with

mystery, ambiguity and cryptic undertones.'

The catalogue to the exhibition provides biographical informa tion and illustrates most of the works in the show. Over the past

decade, Belton has established himself as an artist of considerable

talent. However, given the maturity of his work, and his age (he

was born in 1947), the relatively low profile he has maintained over thirty years is puzzling. The slender list of solo exhibitions

reveals a ten-year gap between the Peppercannister show and

Belton's previous solo exhibition, at the Tom Caldwell Gallery.

Through the 1980s, the catalogue listed just four exhibitions, at

the Frank Lewis Gallery, the Oisin Gallery, and the short-lived

Riverrun Gallery on Parliament Street. Given that the paintings

in the Peppercanister were clearly the work of an artist of talent

and accomplishment, what remains unclear is how Belton had

arrived at this level quietly and with little of the media attention

that often accompanies and distorts the visual arts in Ireland.

Although his paintings give the impression of an artist some

133

Irish Arts Review



A Transcendental Timelessness: The Paintings and Sculptures of Liam Belton

2. Liam BELTON: Continuum. 1997. Oil on canvas, 61 x 152 cm. (Private Collection). Some of the objects in Continuum make an appearance in other paintings in the same

series, while pebbles and eggs reappear singly and in groups throughout the paintings.

what removed from everyday life, Belton is both astute in his

view of the world and politically aware. Born in 1947 into a

Dublin family that for generations has been in and out of money,

power, and politics, the artist draws parallels between his grand

father George Paul Belton, a printer and painter, and James

Joyce's father, James Stanislaus Joyce. His grandfather was one

of five brothers. The fortunes of the Belton family were based in

and around Cavendish Street, at the north end of O'Connell

Street. There the family ran a printing works, a shop, and even

opened an art gallery in the 1950s called the Cavendish Gallery. There were builders in the family too; substantial housing devel

opments in Clontarf were built by Beltons. The extended family was, and remains, active in local and national politics. No less

than three Lord Mayors of Dublin have borne the name Belton:

Patrick, Luke, and Jack; each one related in some way to the

artist: They're all second cousins of my father's.' Then there was

a Belton, 'a man of different polities', who talked Michael

Collins into getting into politics. After the death of his profligate grandfather, Belton's grand

mother, and then the artist's father, took over the printing busi

ness and built it up again: 'From riches to rags to something like

riches again.' Although Liam Belton did not grow up in a

wealthy household, there were relatives who were very well-off,

including his grand-uncle Bill, one of George's brothers, who

lived in Ennafort House in Raheny. 'He had beehives around

the estate. He said he would send me off to Paris to study;' - a

promise that was not fulfilled. Ennafort house and its gardens

have long since been engulfed by Dublin's post-war suburban

development and survives today only as a memory in street

names of the area. The artist's mother was from the Liberties of

3. Liam BELTON: Adam's Navel 1985. Oil on canvas, 61 x 18 cm. (Private Collection). As suggested by the title, the subject-matter of Adam's Navel is the human male

body and its representation in a variety of styles and media.

(Opposite) 4. Liam BELTON: The Sea. 1985. Oil on canvas, 213 x 112 cm. (Private Collection). In The Sea...Belton depicts a painting 'within' a painting. An artist's easel is set on a stony beach...only the bottom shelf and top of the easel are visible.

134

Irish Arts Review



mWmm "^

mm* ^bbbbbbB

s^BbbbBbbB BBbBB^p$^ ""

~^r^^^ '^~w^-^^,i.>^ *~ ̂ ^ **^'" *

^bbbbbB & B_BB|BBjg ^^MjpMwppapi^nfe'-y^ *'__^ .?*~ '"^"VJIbWbI bbbbbbbbbbbbbI

9^K^g^ BB?J^*-ioK2^yjjC^ K^yÂCj^^SF^ 3?

^SbbbBBSSW** ^SHbbk^^Pmb?^' jJM^BP^BBB^rfiiBBBBBB^ "

^hPvbbSl^P^ ^^PIbbbbK! iSB^BBB^^BiiBBttSBBBî^Kll^ mBsmV^yf -d

yjKmmWm9SS ^Bj^BfcjiiHBj^ bS^SEb^^

W^" ̂ JinviBp'l ^^BBBBBBBl^^^-^*'n ^^BSBbSS^HBarallBaBEsMiB? jWBMp**SJpB

9E|jBbî Bbp^bbbL . .^^^BBEH|Bi^^spt^BMlp^ - "

iiBBB9B?an BMBbI^ iSIS i|JB* ^B ^r^BPHPBBBfltBlir^^ - *"" * jbbB^KSp BfH^^fe?S Cr ~^WuB ̂ Mrij^&HHgi_VMM^Êg|i^^ '"'*

<^bbbbb^j ^SHb1 BbhIbiiiuP* BP^*Bf ?T^ ?L?S&î3 (^"^^yBHffff^J^BBBBBBBBBBBBBffBSBB^ ^gflfcr- |

BBBfe'^SîP jllsw ^BKMBTBbBB^^bI^BBBbHB^BB^^^B^^bB^BHB^^ ""^^BsbEI fafl^mW' dl BBBBBBbIbbV' ; Jlliwr ?BB8B)SlBl^^^^BBB^^^BK*II^BBBBBil^^lBBMBa^BB^BF^ S?s!5^BBi JM^-i^BBfe -ÎbI BBBBV.vs j5?vi ^Bl3llBBYBVCTJ?*&i&l^BWJHEBB^X^BBBBB5KPî} .,- ? ̂ ^B^^BBb BbhIbBBi^^^BbI BBBBBf * ??-< * .êHBBBBÎI^BaW^tîBBBVJBlBBBBB^BliBBsBBHBBBBKM^^" ^?w\JBBBB BBBBBl

PSBBBBBk! js? #v* BF^BBBBMBfiBHiZLriKSSBBBl^BBYBBYJ^^ BBBBBBBBBBBJ T^BBBBBBn-1 ; f^T^MmL... ^BBBMBBB^MBiBMBBBBBBBBBBl^^S^BBBEBBBBBBBBBBBBBHB^BBBl BBBBBBBbVbBBb

bbbbbbbbW *-^bB bb9Bbbb^^ssSsBBssbsbTbbbbbbbbbbbbbbBB^bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB BPi8il*^tfiBBBB

135

Irish Arts Review




5. Liam BELTON: Equus. 1999. Oil on canvas, 61 x 152 cm. (Private Collection). As the title suggests, Equus is an elaborate still-life painting depicting a range of objects and

images of horses, including small bronze ancient Greek statuettes, a Greek vase painting, and an ancient trophy from the first Olympics.

^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^mWBmmmWi^ _ 1 $ u I fKfi&TB ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ HHHiHnnwHlii^,^ . C^*%&^jW

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^BHBBBBBBBBBBBMIllllMW."^^^^ :"::;:;':'"':'^' _._

6. Liam BELTON: Perpetuum. 2000. Oil on canvas and mixed media, 152 x 244 cm. (Private Collection). In Perpetuum... the artist has included a representation of one of his own abstract works, making the painting a complex essay on the nature of representation.

(Opposite) 7. Liam BELTON: Dawn Newgrange. 2000. Oil on canvas, 76 x 51 cm. (Private Collection). Belton describes his art as a response to the growing noise and phrenetic clamour from a solipsistic consumer society, dazzled by the lights of information technology and seduced into believing that science and technology have all the answers.

Dublin and grew up in Kimmage, one of a family of fourteen.

She met Belton's father when he was still a student. 'She never

studied art but she had an artistic and fiery temperament. I

remember her making sculptures on the kitchen table. She was

an out-and-out perfectionist. I remember her telling me -

"Never mistake sensitivity with weakness. Appearances can be

deceptive.'" After completing his schooling with the Christian

Brothers at Synge Street, the question of a career became press

ing. 'When I left Synge Street, for a year I did nothing but read,

read, and read. I didn't know what to do with my life. I knew I

136

Irish Arts Review



jBfi?W ^-p --^ _. - v

v.'' w^j^^ilw1'' p "

'*"''\^ ''vr'1;'"7:;'r-||'':vl *j ^ ]' , l^^SmmmBBSKm]

^m^m^mttm^ttB&iBBB^BBm^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^m^mt!!.?'' ^M^^B^^H^^B^BgnlillilMHBB

^B^f^HHH^HHHHSI^BI^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^Bo^jif 4 ^m^m^mwmumBm^mlm^m^m^m^m^m^m^mM^^^^^m^&^'I^^^^^s^^^S^^s




IBaBBBBBBBirik. *

iliTJfcfft^^^^^BB^BBl IIbBbbYbBBBBBK&Sl x^l?<^<--Ji^^^^b^i^^^^^^mmWkm^m^m^m^m^m^mm

bb^bbbbbbb^bbbbbbbbbbbbBbbbbbBIs 'BbbbbbbbbbBbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB

8. Liam BELTON: White Bowl. 2001. Oil on canvas board, 51 x 41 cm. (Private Collection). After the intellectual complexities of the larger paintings, the

simplicity of smaller works such as this comes as something of a relief.

didn't want to go into banking or business and I had no thought of going to university. I thought I might become a cadet perhaps, on a ship. Or go into forestry.'

In the event, it was the artist's mother who intervened. 'It was

the mid 'sixties. I was about eighteen, I was walking down

Kildare Street with my mother. We saw a group of art students

emerging from the gate of the Art College. They weren't hippies, but they were bohemian-looking. My mother asked me if I would

be interested in attending art college. I took one look at the stu

dents and decided that was where I wanted to be.' His father and

grandfather had also attended the National College of Art. His

grandfather, George Paul Belton, painter and printer, had studied at the Metropolitan School (as it was then known) in the early years of the century and had been a contemporary of Sean

Keating. Liam's father had also been an art student for a period.

Neither had become professional artists, but it seems clear that,

like politics, art is deep in the blood of the Belton family. 1966 was not the best year for a student from a political family

to enroll at the National College of Art. In common with many

European universities, the college was struggling to cope with a

post-war generation that rejected both authority and tradition.

In those years, the art college did not have its own board of gov ernors but was administered directly by civil servants from the

Department of Education. 'The college was very badly run at

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBT JbBBFII TJififflPlf^BBB

bbbbbbbbbbbbB &?BBbbbbbBb 13|t' ^^H

BBBBBBBBBBBbI ~~"^ff^^^BBBBBttf'""^''''^BBBBBT' ^BB

bbbbbbbBbbbBB J ̂ IBBlSBBBBBBBr 'Sbbbbbk-'"'' JbB ^bbbbbbbbbb

* & JIBbbbbbbbbv-a"gBM"|^ _^H

bbbbbbbbbbH ? ^^^SbbbbbbbbbbHbbbbbbbbbf 'iimm

bbbbbbb^bbB ^^^bBbbbbbbbbbbbHbbbbbbK'BbI

bbbbbbbbbbbbB ^'I^^P^Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb^bbBbbB' ^^B ^^^^^^^^M

- ' J . ''''^^^^SiBB^BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBfflBBBBBB mU

bbbbbbbbbbbbB s^k^^bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbf^bbbbb' vbbB BBBBBBBBBBBBB1 Hpf'" <^HBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBr^^B^B^-,'^BBB

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBre' ^^^^^^BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBbBbBBBbIv-'IBbB

9. Liam BELTON: Interior with Stairs. 2001. Oil on canvas board, 56 x 41 cm.

(Private Collection). In Interior with Stairs...there is a sense of anticipation, as if the space is about to become activated by the presence of a person.

that time. It was run by civil servants. It was ripe for revolution.'

In 1966 the director, Sean Keating, had just retired. A leg

endary figure in Irish art since his discovery by Orpen in the

early years of the century, Keating's antipathy towards contem

porary art and Modernism was well-known. Maurice MacGonigal,

head of painting at the College, had also served as president of

the Royal Hibernian Academy during some of its most reac

tionary years. The younger staff members, John F Kelly, Carey Clarke, Brett McEntaggart, James Nolan, and Fergus O'Ryan, were divided in their response to this younger post-war genera

tion of students, whose views on art were markedly different to

those of their predecessors and professors. 'I was taught by John F Kelly. There was a lot more to him than met the eye. He

wasn't as doctrinaire as the other tutors.' Among Belton's fellow

students were Gene Lambert, Brian Maguire, Martin Gale,

Charles Cullen and Michael Mulcahy. The secretary of the

Students Union was Paddy Gillan. In contrast to the students,

who were keen to travel and encounter the world, the tutors at

the College seemed either oblivious or hostile to political and

cultural developments in Europe and America. 'You would learn

more from your fellow students' remarks the artist, 'They were

travelling more than the staff and reading more.' Belton trav

elled to Amsterdam, to see the sketchbooks of Van Gogh, which were a revelation in that they were intimate, reflecting the

138

Irish Arts Review




10. Liam BELTON: Emmental and Gruyere. 2000. Oil on canvas board, 46 x 71 cm. (Private Collection). A sense of presence is a constant in Belton's art. It is as if through imposing a rigorous discipline of colour, line, and movement, the artist paradoxically charges his paintings with that most elusive quality, a sense of real presence.

artist's inner thoughts, and not a 'finished product'. This

approach to drawing differed radically from what Belton

encountered in his first year at the National College of Art.

The system of teaching at the National College of Art had

remained essentially unchanged since the early 19th century when Neo-Classicism was at its height in Ireland. The system

was based on analytical and tonal studies done from the Greco

Roman antique plaster casts and from the live model. Students

in the 1960s still had to spend two years copying from the

antique sculpture casts. 'Just heads the first year, then full

length figures, before you were allowed go into life class.

Students were forbidden to use colour until the final year. When

students started to travel in the sixties, and see what was hap

pening in art elsewhere, they couldn't believe the system at

NCAD, it was so restricting.' The training given to painters in

those years was clinical, analytical, almost scientific. 'Never use

two lines when one line will do', students were told. However it

is interesting to see how, in spite of Belton's rejection of this

approach over thirty years ago, his work today is clearly rooted

in formal analysis, a careful use of tonal values, and a sparing use

of colour. The crisis at the college worsened during Belton's first

term. The students began a series of sit-ins and occupations that

led eventually to the closure of the college for almost a year. 'I

was very involved in the whole student thing. I was one of the

Hard Core.' Belton recalls the infamous episode when rebellious

students destroyed many of the plaster casts of antique sculp

tures. 'We had a sleep-in at the College. Two of the students

went upstairs to the cast room. They locked the doors and

smashed the plaster casts. We had no idea it was happening. We

were horrified.' When the students were locked out of the

College on Kildare Street they went to Lisney's estate agents,

rented a building in Crow Street in Temple Bar, and set up their own art college.

The student protests were directed at improving teaching

standards and conditions at the college but a great deal of anger

was also directed at inequities of opportunity and the social

exclusion of marginalised groups in Irish society. The artist's

political idealism led him away from the established centres of

culture such as Kildare Street and towards teaching jobs in dis

advantaged areas of the city. 'When an institution is in a con

stant state of upheaval, it informs your whole way of looking at

things. It gave us a social conscience. We started going out to

teach in Ballyfermot and Ballymun.' The students demanded

that an independent board be set up to run the college, and that

student representatives be elected onto this board. They called

for an overhaul of the teaching system, which was still based on

the 19th-century method of drawing initially from antique sculp tures and later from models, a system they saw as archaic and

139

Irish Arts Review



11. Liam BELTON: White Cheese with Three Eggs. 2000. Oil on canvas board, 46 x 71 cm. (Private Collection). While the forms are simple and the colour muted, the

relationship between the objects and the space in which they are depicted is handled with extraordinary care and precision.

''

^^^^ÎM^W^m mMô m

" ; *1111

lâs^ K? '- ::;; . ; -a?#if:

12. Liam BELTON: Mortar and Mushrooms. 2000. Oil on canvas board, 51x81 cm. (Private Collection). Belton's qualities of analysis are evident in his paintings but they are also clearly reflected in the written statements...both to explain his art and to set a wider agenda about the role of art in society.

140

Irish Arts R e v i e w




repressive. The demands of the students were eventually met

and the constitution of the National College of Art now incor

porates many of the innovations fought for in the 'sixties. 'What

the protesting students were really seeking was an independent

board for the National College of Art, with student representa

tion on the board. And in essence, that is what they got.' Belton

remained a student at the National College of Art for six years, two years in Pre-Diploma and three in the school of Painting,

under Professor John F Kelly. He was eventually awarded a

Diploma in Painting (the college did not award degrees until the

1980s) in 1971.

After leaving college Belton taught art in Dublin's north side

for many years, teaching at St Joseph's School for the Visually

Impaired, in Drumcondra, for twenty-three years, one full day

and three half-days a week. He also taught evening classes at the

Technical Institute on the North Strand, run by the Dublin

Vocational Education Committee. This was a three year course,

with classes held in the evenings, four nights a week. 'Looking

back, I don't know how I did it, teaching both during the day and

four nights a week. But the night classes only lasted as far as

Easter. I had the summers free. And at St Joseph's I might only have five or six in a class. I could teach sculpture all day and then

go home and still find time for painting.' In persevering with

these low-paid teaching jobs, Belton admits he was motivated by the same political beliefs that had activated his protests at art

college. 'I had become very politicised at the art college. When I

left, I joined official Sinn Fein and later the Workers Party. But now I've become anti-political. I distrust any sort of dogma. It

took me over ten years to recover from the College of Art.'

In 1997, after many years of painting part-time in the

evenings and at week-ends, Belton decided to take the plunge

and became a full time artist in spite of having a growing family. 'I had a choice. Don't give up the day job, my father would say. I

have three children and a mortgage -

Sam is nine, Richard

seven, and Emily five. But in the end I decided to go for it.'

In spite of his assertion of having moved on from his earlier

political beliefs, it is clear that Belton still possesses many of the

characteristics that motivated him in his earlier years. His quali

ties of analysis are evident in his paintings but they are also

clearly reflected in the written statements - almost manifestoes

- which he writes both to explain his art but also to set a wider

agenda about the role of art in society, and the role of the Royal

Hibernian Academy, of which he was elected a member in 1991 and Keeper four years later. He takes his position as a member

and Keeper of the Academy seriously and has been successful in

initiating a thoughtful debate on its present and future role, a

debate which augurs well for its bid to reposition itself as a vital centre for education and the visual arts in Ireland. Belton's

approach to his own art is as methodical as his analysis of the

role of art in society. Employing a discourse which has its roots

in Marxist theory, Belton condemns the modern age and its

obsession with money and technological progress. He describes

his art as a 'response to the growing noise and phrenetic clamour

from a solipsistic consumer society, dazzled by the lights of infor

mation technology and seduced into believing that science and

technology have all the answers to the human condition.'

With a characteristic methodical approach to building up his

argument, Belton identifies five distinct approaches to his own

personal approach to making art. The first approach is where he

seeks 'to synthesise reality and strip it of superficial rhetoric or

hyperbole.' He feels that space and interval are as vital to his

compositions as the objects he depicts. The objects, chosen after

a rigorous process of selection, may not formally relate to each

other but through juxtaposition can 'spark off a strange ethereal

connection'. The artist's second approach is through 'selecting

objects which have the history of everyday human use and jux

taposing them in my poem boxes. My self-portrait in the

National Self-Portrait collection is an example of this approach.

Decay, particularly as a symbol of regeneration, is a central

theme in this work. These objects have a tactile pathos and they

force one to confront face to face one's own transient ephemeral

existence. . . . objects are always placed instinctively and with

out any pre-ordained analysis. The aim is to avoid any obvious

contrivance. I usually include my written poem in these boxes.'

The artist's third approach is a complete shedding of any literal or symbolic content. These are completely abstract works,

devoid of typographical associations; 'using colour, texture and

line to hopefully stimulate that antediluvian nerve that is on the

other side of analysis or understanding.' In his fourth approach

to art, Belton explores abstract sculpture, seeking to create

objects that reawaken a sense of the organic and the integration

of form and feeling. His fifth approach is through drawing, both

exploratory drawings, which are expressive and involve an ele

ment of catharsis, and finished drawings, which pare observed

phenomena down to essentials of form and light.

Looking back over the past two decades, it is possible to trace

a linear thread of development in Belton's art. In Palette for an

Irish Landscape (Front cover) a painting dating from 1984, the artist has depicted a painting 'within' a painting. Essentially, the

painting is a close-up view of a painting on an easel set in a

white room. Only the top and the bottom shelf of the easel are

visible. The painting clamped to the easel shows a sheep in a

mountainous landscape with a stone wall in the foreground.

Palette for an Irish Landscape clearly refers to the dominance of

landscape painting in 20th-century Irish art, but, by setting the

painted landscape within such a contrived context, Belton

underlines the artifice of this tradition and questions the nature

of representation in painting. This questioning is underscored by

the artist's use of the shelf below the easel as the actual palette

upon which he mixed the oil colours. The painting thus bears the marks of its own making and is a sophisticated essay in ques

tioning the role of representation in art. On the shelf the artist

has painted a Bachelors Beans can, deftly introducing a touch of humour into what otherwise could be an overly didactic exer

cise.

In Time and the Hour (Fig 15), painted in 1985, Belton depicts a series of objects placed on a windowsill in a derelict house.

The window is broken and swathed in cobwebs. On the win

141 Irish Arts Review




dowsill are pebbles, an ink bottle, and a clock with a dirtied face.

The Bachelors Baked Beans tin, familiar from the earlier Palette

for an Irish Landscape, reappears in this work. The colours used

by the artist are more intense than in his more recent works.

The style is close to Photo-Realism but lacks the deliberate

banality of this style, being based more on direct observation. In

The Sea (Fig 4), a large painting dating from the same year, Belton again depicts a painting 'within' a painting. An artist's

easel is set on a stony beach. Again only the bottom shelf and

top of the easel are visible. The canvas on the easel depicts the

stony beach with the sea stretching out to the horizon. The

now-familiar Bachelor's baked bean tin and artists' brushes reap

pear on the easel shelf. Outside the white border of the inner

canvas, the beach continues in 'actual' reality. Thus what

appears at first glance to be a simple landscape painting turns

out to be a complex questioning of the nature of representation

in art on closer examination. An added dimension, and one that

the artist continues in recent work, is the inclusion of a poem

written on a sheet of paper lying on rock in foreground. The

poem is entitled 'The Sea':

A wave is born, rises and dies

becoming again part of the whole

echoing our existence.

you wash away our history

your waves beat on the shores

the heartbeat of the planet relentless rhythm through the centuries

altering little and altering all

the solid rock becomes grains of sand

in your hands.

when I look at you I can see

that nothing has changed since the

beginning ?

life and time is an illusion

between the waves

This thoughtful poem reappears in Belton's Self Portrait (Fig I),

painted in 1991 and now in the National Self-Portrait

Collection. Displayed in the forty or so small compartments of

what looks like an old compositor's tray, are a variety of objects,

photographs, and small paintings alluding to the life and career

of the artist. There are family photographs, including one of the

artist as a three-year old boy, as well as 'artistic' female nude

photographs. The objects juxtaposed in the little compartments

include a spark plug, fuse holder, cork, pine cone, a box of

superfine drawing crayons, an old pound note (with head of

Hazel Lavery), the head of an old toothbrush, an old spoon,

pennies, washer, watch movement, keyhole, pipe joint, pills,

rosary beads, eraser, lock of artist's hair, nail clippings, and a

vintage Wild Woodbine cigarette pack. In the centre compart

ment is a brooding self-portrait painted by the artist. In the com

partment below this self-portrait are tubes of student's oil paint.

This assemblaged Self Portrait led the artist to produce a series

of such works which he describes as 'poem boxes'. Everybody Wants a Box of Chocolates, measuring over six feet in height, was

exhibited in the RHA annual exhibition in 1999. Another 'poem box' construction entitled Temple, like all these works, contained

a poem by Belton. The most recent 'poem box' is entitled Words

(Fig 14) and was exhibited in the Annual RHA exhibition in

2001. Among other elements, this work incorporates very fine,

almost invisible texts, written on a line of white wooden blocks.

As well as developing these 'poem boxes', the artist has con

tinued to paint more conventional works. In a series of large

still-life paintings done over the past decade, Belton juxtaposes

objects in differing ways in different paintings. Again, the objects are chosen, not at random, but for their formal qualities and for

their references to art and history. In Continuum (Fig 2), a can

vas measuring five feet in length, painted in 1997, the objects

depicted are as diverse as in Belton's three-dimensional 'poem

boxes': A photograph of fragments of a Greek statue, eggs

(some broken), an archaic pottery vessel, an oil can, an ancient

Greek bronze helmet, the title page of an 18th century novel

(not a real novel, in fact an invention of the artist) 'Jane

Austen's The Life and Death of Mr Everyman, presented to the

world in a familiar dialogue between Mr Wiseman and Mr

Attentive, a reproduction of a William Scott painting, a Robert

Mapplethorpe photo of men's heads in profile, an old French

mustard pot with broken spout, two old ink pots, an empty card

board mount leaning against the backdrop, a photo of an

antique equestrian statuette, and a pewter beaker.

Some of the objects in Continuum make an appearance in

other paintings in the same series, while pebbles and eggs reap

pear singly and in groups throughout the paintings. The pewter

beaker and the Greek bronze helmet reappear in Adam's Navel

(Fig 3), painted in 1998, while the oil can and the photograph of the antique equestrian statue reappear in Equus (Fig 5), painted

the following year. As the title suggests, Equus, a canvas measur

ing five feet in length, is an elaborate still-life painting depicting a range of objects and images of horses, including small bronze

ancient Greek statuettes, a Greek vase painting, and an ancient

trophy from the first Olympics. As suggested by the title, the subject-matter of Adam's Navel

is the human male body and its representation in a variety of

styles and media. The objects in this still-life include Stephen

Jay Gould's book Adams Navel, with a photo of a naked male

torso on the cover. The painting also includes an Egyptian

funerary model of a boat with rowers and standing figures. Some

of the objects chosen are contemporary, such as a small metal

sculpture by Joseph Beuys, and several simple ceramic forms by Hans Coper. In Perpetuum (Fig 6), the artist again includes oil

can, pebbles, and other objects familiar from earlier paintings,

but in this painting he has also included a representation of one

(Opposite) 13. Liam BELTON: Alkaamar Soap and Box. 1985. Oil on canvas, 51 x 41cm. (Private Collection). In 1997, after many years of painting part time in the

evenings and at weekends, Belton decided to take the plunge and become a full-time artist in spite of having a growing family.

142

Irish Arts Review



Sfe < - * -<*^/bbbbb?^

" -f - "v

^m|^M^M?, ^ % u-JJ ^^

k i/..\\i;r, ^9 ^S^'*Xj*^^^"'-^Sl^^J*BBBBBB^P ** S'" ̂ * ' ^ ̂ ^BaBBIr IbB *'" ^ Pî^^lfei^

afeSBRPfiBBBBfS. ": '

f.' ^

": -*'' " * BbV S &? fv"M%fl8

MtliyiiL^!Jim^^M^- ^BBB^ ' * 'I ?? ,- ,? BBBBB^BBBBBB^NbBbIbBBBBbI p"f^^^^9 BBiiiiai^^^^^^^B

* '. ':<-; ^L^LWm^m^m^mmmBk t lltellS bbbbbbbbbbbbBbbWbbbbW bbbbbV f 'ff* ̂ - "' \' -

^ ..: bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbBbbbB f-: -. tffigagaftSBgBl

BHbbbHHbSbbbbbIbbbbB ' ' ''

i": '-

^bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbH k^lKlwi

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbE^bK I.-/ ..:...' '

?'/ ;^>, bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbB

'

P^^^^H ^^B^^^MWBmBbBbbbbbbbb? itrmfrriimtiTffliMr^ " - ** v"/''"'-: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B ̂ ^^^^^^^^9

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBYbBSbBBBBBBBBBBbBbBBBBBbBbBbBBBB^^ ^T'S **i?'".; BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBs ItÎ^^^^^^^^^^^BI BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBHBMEWIHUIWtJBBBBB \^^J,.^4%^ ftBftBftBftBftBftBftBftBftBftBftBftBBf r^TlvlmîPw^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^B_B_B_WJHHBKHHh^^H.|% \S^fW^fr ^BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB t *f^*iCT^mSI^^^BWHBl

^^^^^H^^HBb^^bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbHbbb^bb^^ Ism^gBB^^^^m

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbBbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbUk .:?BbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbmbbbbbbbbbbbY bbbbbbbbbbbBbbbbB

^^H^^^^^^^^V! t^mm^mm^mm^mm^mm^mm^mm^mm^mmM ^m^Lm^LmW

^^^^^^^^^^^B^ffP^^ ^bbbbbbBbbbIbbIbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbI




II1 BltB "^ Eh /L ^^^ ^^^ ?'

i~- ?\ J*

14. Liam BELTON: Words. 2001. Oil on canvas and mixed media, 182 x 274 cm. (Private Collection). This painting was exhibited in the Annual RHA Exhibition in 2001. It incorporates very fine, almost invisible texts, written on a line of white wooden blocks.

of his own abstract works, again making the painting a complex

essay on the nature of representation.

After the intellectual complexities and art history puzzles of

these larger paintings, the simplicity of smaller works such as

Alkamaar Soap and Box, White Bowl, and White Cheese With

Three Eggs (Figs 13, 8 6k 11) comes as something of a relief.

However, the simplicity of these recent paintings is deceptive.

While the forms are simple and the colours muted, the relation

ship between the objects and the space in which they are

depicted is handled with extraordinary care and precision. In

Interior with Stairs, a painting of a stone staircase as seen through

an arch, there is a sense of anticipation, as if the space is about

to become activated by the presence of a person. This sense of

presence is a constant in Belton's art. It is as if through imposing

a rigorous discipline of colour, line, and movement, the artist

paradoxically charges his paintings with that most elusive qual

ity, a sense of real presence.

As we sat talking in the Peppercannister Gallery, a grey

haired man who had been looking at the paintings came over to

say hello. He turned out to be a former student who had

attended Belton's evening classes. 'I remember those art classes

you used to give on the North Strand years ago', the man said

'You'd put a candle on a table and light the model that way.' I

recalled Belton talking about the paintings of the Tenebrists and

his admiration for Caravaggio and Van Honthorst. On his way

out the door, the man stopped and looked at Belton and said:

'You know what someone once said to me. The only way you

will ever become a successful painter in Ireland is to get two sets

of letters after your name, RHA and RIP.'

PETER MURRAY is Director of the Crawford Gallery, Cork

(Opposite) 15. Liam BELTON: Time and the Hour. 1985. Oil on canvas, 76 x 61 cm. (Private Collection). In Time and the Hour...Belton depicts a series of objects placed on a

windowsill in a derelict house. The window is broken and swathed in cobwebs...The colours used by the artist are more intense than in his more recent works.

144

Irish Arts Review



^^^^^^^^ffis^^ fife * if' F^^H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I

^^ n M ' - -mK&&^Bmm^Bmmw^mWmWMBmmW\i Sn^^H

^^^^^^^^^^^^^HS ̂^^^^^mf^K^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^mm^^^^tBBB^SBSmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

^^^^^^^^^^Hl U ""

',: \ ?^S^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^BSmmmmmmmSSa^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^^ Hi \ .- :, : ::.' S^ - \ J^^mB^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Ka^mmmmmmmmmmmmm



a transcendental timelessness: the paintings and sculptures of liam belton

Documents