Ray Sell

I first caught a glimpse of the New York artist Ray Sell’s work at a show called “Wildly Different Things” which brought together the work of artist living in New York and Dublin in February 2010 at the Blue leaf Galley. It was the first time I saw Sean Hillen’s work in the flesh too. There was a huge variety of great work but these two artist stood out for me. I reminded myself that day about my love of collage and I kept getting drawn back to study his pieces in all their Technicolor glory.

They made me nostalgic for my 70’s childhood when everything seemed bright, innocent, and sometimes a little daunting. My Father watches a lot of old movies his favourite being cowboys and I get lost in this world very happily when I get the chance. These images bring me back to a time when all I had to worry about was what was going to happen in the next scene, who would shoot who and how the pretty lady was going to get her man. Ray Sell came back to Dublin this year for a solo show “Line of Fire” at the Blue Leaf Gallery. This time I couldn’t resist and bought a very reasonably priced 3D piece called “Middle of the Road” for my husbands birthday, a little boy with a glowing pink aura (it could be radiation) watching a TV full of toy soldiers while the real troups march in the background. Fiction brought to life in splendid colour.