Conleth Gent

Posts Modern Point West

Posts Modern Point West is a site specific sculpture by Conleth Gent created for the Westport Quay sculpture exhibition 2021.

Situated on the very edge of the quay wall it reflects the wave patterns of the ocean beyond. It also suggests the ribs of old wooden ships of the past which are so often seen protruding from the sands of time along many a shoreline. These wrecks are reminders of past times and the many great long forgotten journeys made.

The sculpture is also a pointer to the direction of travel of the many who have had to leave these shores to find the chance of a better life across the great ocean. The wood from which the sculpture is made is Macrocarpa which was brought back from across the ocean and grown here in Ireland. The sculpture in the present might serve to remind us of the past and point to the future. It might also be seen as a marker of this West Port.

Conleth Gent is a multi award winning sculptor who works mainly in a wide variety of locally sourced woods. His unique abstract and semi abstract forms are a search for harmony and personal expression. Each individual work aims to bring the once living wood to a new life.

His work can be found in the contemporary art collection at University College Dublin and on permanent display at University College Cork campus as well as in many corporate and private collections in Ireland and abroad.

Con’s work has the resonance equivalent of wooden music and though often abstract is open to a wide variety of narrative interpretations. Though the work is deeply personal it often opens out to be more generally accessible and relevant. Form and texture combine to create a uniquely tactile quality which has to do with the natural organic nature of the medium and the artists love and passion for working with it.