Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
The Wonderful Farm Machine
Mixed media on board, 56 x 76.5cm (22 x 30'')
Signed

Exhibited: Gerard Dillon, New Collages the Dawson Gallery, 1-17th May 1969, Cat...

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
The Wonderful Farm Machine
Mixed media on board, 56 x 76.5cm (22 x 30'')
Signed

Exhibited: Gerard Dillon, New Collages the Dawson Gallery, 1-17th May 1969, Cat No. 11

From 1965 following a series of traumatic events in Gerard Dillons life, a clown and later a Pierrot figure appeared in his works that lasted until his last series of prints in 1970. Following the deaths of his three brothers the clown featured in mixed media works but in 1967 following a heart attack, a masked pierrot was adopted as his alter ego as he feared his own mortality. Reflecting on his own mortality and self- identity he went on a journey in search for answers looking on his past, present and future life involving his subconscious dreams. Exhibited in 1969, The Wonderful Farm machine represents the artists final phase of the journey. The forty-four collages at the exhibition at the Dawson gallery contain complex symbolism evoking messages that are ambiguous and are open to interpretation. The exhibition was a success from a selling point of view and critics referenced the gaiety of the pierrots with one critic introducing his exhibition with the headline, Gay world of Gerard Dillon. (Evening Herald, 5.5.69)

The Wonderful Farm machine is similar in style and content to Clowns in a Bog (see illustration.) Although this work was not chosen to be included in the exhibition it was almost certainly executed at the same time. Both collages depict two pierrots in a west of Ireland landscape with a farm machine and exemplify the artists passion for image making. In this composition cut out shapes of shadows, birds, machines, clouds, and clothes are embellished with chalk to add depth and enhance the surface of the image. In the foreground texture of hay is achieved by combing through wet paint. The colour, lines, cutouts and texture combine to create intensity to an otherwise flat painting.

The machine resembles a combine harvester from another world. On the left a pierrot appears to be jumping with delight at the sight of a bird flying over him. Another bird hovers over a seated pierrot in a striped top wearing a hat. The seated pierrot appears at ease controlling the farm machine from a single handle. Influenced by Chagall, whose works were a dreamy reverie of life in his home village of Vitebsk, Dillon sets his own reverie of life of imaginative joy and ease in a west of Ireland landscape.The image may also represent Dillon dealing with self-identification in face of his mortality. As a homosexual, Dillon had learned to come to terms with his desires in a situation of illegality, prejudice, ignorance and social hostility. In the 1960s homosexuality was never spoken about in public and Dillon had successfully concealed this side of his life during his lifetime. But in his dream world, he was free to reference his sexuality without being a threat to social order living in the constraints of Catholic Ireland. In Clowns in a Bog the pierrots appear effeminate and exude confidence in a romantic western landscape. In this collage, the pierrot figures are depicted elated and relaxed. The mood is light-hearted and as the Evening Herald critic observed, there is gaiety in this image. But equally the birds could symbolize freedom. In both collages, Dillon address the aesthetic of camp and sexual liberation. Here the pierrots are depicted relaxed, confident and free in a Connemara landscape, where Dillon said one could live forever. (Dear Tourist, Ireland of the Welcomes, May-June, 1955 pg.33).

Karen Reihill
February 2019

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