Acquainted with the Night

An exhibition about a Surrealist journey and its discoveries.

Patrick Hourihan

5 - 16 October 2021

Inside Patrick Hourihan’s skull there nestles a mental coral reef alive with magical images of unknown dramas and unfamiliar conflicts. His private world is as intense, as complicated and as visually captivating as anything the ocean reefs have to offer. His technical wizardry allows him to explore this world of the unconscious and permits us to eavesdrop on its many perverse and contradictory scenes. His work has the special merit of being instantly recognisable as his. No other artist comes close to his imagery. An intrepid internal explorer, he is quite splendidly alone in his voyages of irrational beauty’ Desmond Morris, April 2019

This selection of paintings, drawings and boxed found objects represents the work of Lon- don-based Surrealist Patrick Hourihan. He has used automatic drawing and other channels of accidental discovery as a way to unlock the poetic potential and sense of the Marvellous that awaits in seemingly mundane and unexpected situations of everyday life. The spirit of this exhibition seduces the viewer to look through newly opened windows with the dreamer’s innocent eye.

Patrick Hourihan is London born. He studied at the Watford School of Art. He has been creating imaginative worlds since childhood, leading to a love of Surrealism while at college. He was, for a number of years, an active member of the Surrealist London Action Group (S.L.A.G.)