Christopher Ireland
Christopher Ireland is an observer. His sensitivity and natural intuition enable him to brilliantly capture life’s real characters. A highly considered and measured approach has earned Ireland recognition with projects requiring a human breakthrough. His work has been recognised at Cannes Lions, D&AD, AdFest, The One Show, Clio, and Spikes.
Permanent Vacation
A word from Chris about his diptych titled ‘Permanent Vacation’
Photographic expeditions usually centre around exotic destinations, flavours and culture.
My expeditions, tempered by the domestic responsibilities of raising young children, were disguised as family holidays. Our kids, curious with their immediate surroundings never questioned the destinations in our itinerary: a tree. A paddock. A bridge.
We sought quiet meditations, wherever they could be found.
The Permanent Vacation - AP Photograph 1of1 - 1319 x 985 Framed External Size - $2950 - Framed in a tassie oak with museum quality UV Art Glass
The Permanent Vacation - AP Photograph 1of1 - 1319 x 985 Framed External Size - $2950 - Framed in a tassie oak with museum quality UV Art Glass
Platina Editions
Chrysanthenum - 8x10 - Lith - 1 of 2
Lilypads Dusk - 6x8.5 - Lith - 1of1
Dried Anthurium - 8x10 - Lith - 1of2
Curled Cala - 10x8 - Lit - 1 of 3
Budding Sunflower - 8 x 10 - Lith - 1of3
Lily in Profile - Lith - 8x10 - 1of2
Flannel Flower - Lith - 8 x 10 - 1of3
Lily Anthesis - Lith - 20x24 - 2of3
Spring Onions in Jar - 8 x 10 - Palladium - 2of 3
More about Platina Editions…
Five years ago, my wife and I were looking for a home to raise our young family.
Following the death of its owner, a man in his 90’s, hidden slightly under the shadows of a huge elm and surrounded by the most mature camellias we had ever seen, a charming but run down cottage revealed itself.
With an air of curiosity and adventure, we moved in.
It turned out the man was a celebrated scientist, recognised world-wide for his understanding of botanical biology. A few people who knew him told us we had a rare and special garden.
We’d never had a garden before. This was some garden, a splendid, mature English garden with meandering sandstone paths.
My wife began to collect orchids, lilies and leaves from the property and display them in vases around the house. The amazing thing about these beautiful botanical forms is their ceaseless capacity to inspire. The longer I study them, their perfect flowing curves, subtle changes in tone, balance, form and elegance, the more I appreciate their incredible beauty.
These flowers have provided endless fascination for me, ironic, given my proclamations as a younger man that gardens and flowers were the domain of the old.
Naturally I’d pay homage to these flowers in the most lasting and expressive ways available to me as an artist: photographed and printed under the exciting and uncontrollable Lith development process, where the tones of the image race away at different speeds, prints snatched from developer when they felt just right, before they spoiled and under the careful brush strokes of sensitised salt, gold, platinum and palladium.
Indeed there is no language to fully describe flowers. Nor can we fully detail our feelings towards them. These images reflect my admiration and fascination for botanicals and signal my attempts to hold images on paper that will last hundreds, even thousands of years. It is my gift to pass on.
A few months ago, now in his 60’s a man drove down our driveway to see his childhood home. He was the biologist’s son. His eyes filled with tears as he saw the garden, still intact, flourishing, the house sensitively renovated, and two young boys, my sons, running barefooted along the sandstone paths.