Born and educated in Dublin, Derek Culley is essentially a Celtic artist mainly self taught and intuitive in approach. He came over and settled in mainland Britain in the 1950's
As a young man his visual imagination was stimulated by early Celtic stone carvings on exhibition at the National Museum in Dublin.
Their monumental presence and symbolic mystery had a profound and lasting effect on him, echoed later when he discovered American painting in Motherwell’s "Elegy to The Spanish Republic " series. Also, on seeing the work of Irish painters such as Dillon, O'Colmain, Armstrong and Middleton it certainly influenced Culley and awakened in him the desire and ambition to be a painter, confirmed on visits to the David Hendricks Gallery in Dublin where he saw much of Cecil Kings' work which he greatly admired. Though Culley admits to having difficulty with aesthetic theories, it did help him to understand artists that he instinctively admired, especially as the aforementioned Americans had been influenced by Burkes "Enquiry"
Celtic imagery and associations recur constantly in Culley 's paintings, and some can be traced to the manuscripts produced by the early Celtic monks, particularly the Book of Kells.
Often these manuscripts show the Cross composed of rich lacework of intertwined dragons or serpents, standing against or buried amongst background of even more complicated pattern, the human figure appears as strange patterns made of human forms looking much like primitive idols. In Culley's paintings over the last five years there exists strong connections with such imagery though he uses strong chiaroscuro, heavy impasto, vigorous brushwork and direct expressive handling. They are mysterious, illusive, and often haunting.
Though he has considerable knowledge and expertise in the use of computers and information technology, Culley deliberately shuns any notion of linking art and technology. His roots are in the primitive and symbolic and it is significant that he chooses as his principal means of expression one of the most traditional and direct means of communication known to man.
Visit Derek Culley's personal website for more information on the artist
Entry to the Cathedral and exhibition is FREE. Car parking is pay on exit.
Enquiries to Canon Anthony Hawley at the Cathedral canon.hawley@liverpoolcathedral.org.uk