Mick Flaherty

Selected work

The wall

Twenty-one pieces. Mixed media — ink, wash, pastel, wax and scratched line. Open any one to see it larger.

A crowded totem of mask-like faces on a mustard-yellow ground, staring eyes, bared teeth and a grey ringed shield, worked in oxblood red, ochre and warm black ink. Nº 01 A bone-white ringed form anchors a dripping field of oxblood red, warm black ink, and petrol teal splatters. Worked in watercolour wash, ink spatter, and scratched line work on a stained, ragged ground. Nº 02 A mechanical skull with a gear-shaped eye and ribbed jaw, rendered in bone white and warm black ink scratched into wax, set against a watercolour wash of burnt sienna and deep violet. Nº 03 Warm black ink tendrils and grey wash surround a central roundel of patchwork squares in mustard ochre, petrol teal and oxblood red. Scratched line work textures the form, with red watercolour bleeding across the bone-white ground. Nº 04 A dark grey central mass on a bone-white ground bleeding oxblood-red rivulets, with a burnt-orange ring floating top-right among petrol-teal blocks. Nº 05 A blazing oxblood-red disc with a bone-white core pierces a web of warm black ink roots and dripping violet-black branches, set against mustard ochre and burnt sienna washes with scratched white line work. Nº 06 A dark eclipsed orb floats amid a splattered cosmos of deep violet, oxblood red, petrol teal and mustard ochre washes, with scratched line work and ink splatters scoring the bleeding edges. Nº 07 Stacked abstract forms in petrol teal, deep violet and oxblood red climb through a bone white and burnt sienna ground, built up in heavy encaustic with scratched and incised line work. Nº 08 A vertical bloom of fiery burnt orange and red rising between two pale, heavily scratched columns over a dark, scorched base. Nº 09 Two orb-like forms, a bone-white disc and a larger ring of scratched white line work, sit within a petrol teal and burnt sienna field, built from warm black ink, drips and wax-scraped texture. Nº 10 A glowing mustard ochre orb sits at the centre of a bleared oxblood red, burnt sienna and warm black ink mass, marked with scratched line work and wax drips on a bone-white ground. Nº 11 A dense tangle of curved forms worked in oil pastel and wax, olive green, burnt sienna, and warm black on a bone white ground. Oxblood red washes bleed from the edges, with scratched line work threading the central cluster. Nº 12 A mask-like face dissolving into the page, molten yellows and oranges at top, indigo-blue and oxblood red streaking down, eyes peering through the surface. Nº 13 A sketchy face and blue sailboat float within a pooled wash of petrol teal, burnt sienna and mustard ochre, stitched together with warm black ink lines. A glossy oxblood-red orb and bony white shapes anchor the centre, layered in encaustic and watercolour. Nº 14 A clustered totem of mask-like faces built from bleeding watercolour and ink washes, dominated by oxblood red, mustard ochre and warm black ink against a bone white ground. Nº 15 Faces and figures emerge from a dense undergrowth of dark greens and earth tones, with a red bloom at the centre and green wash spreading across a bone-white speckled ground. Nº 16 A dark totem figure sits alone on a white ground, baring a row of sharp teeth, with a petrol-teal shadow behind it and raw red wounds dripping across its body. Nº 17 Pooled organic forms in petrol teal, mustard ochre and deep violet, edged in warm black ink and bone white veining, a fluid encaustic and watercolour surface marbled into cellular shapes. Nº 18 A crowd of mask-like faces and figures packed tight, worked in oxblood red, warm black ink and bone white wash, bared teeth and staring eyes filling the frame. Nº 19 A bald head with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, rendered in soft pink, deep violet and bone white against a vivid red background with mustard ochre at the base. Nº 20 A lone bald man with angular features nurses a pint at a table; behind him a purple-tiled wall and a framed view down a moonlit corridor with a yellow moon visible inside. Nº 21