Paintings ‘unseen and gathering dust’ in lockdown go on display

“All of my paintings hung unseen and gathering dust for nearly seven months,” says Keith Watts, an emerging artist from Streamstown.

“I have sold paintings to the Office of Public Works and exhibited in Westmeath and in Galway in group exhibitions, but this one in the Tuar Ard is my first solo exhibition,” Keith told the Westmeath Examiner.

Keith is delighted to have his first solo exhibition, which originally closed seven months ago when the country went into lockdown, reopen at the Moate centre.

“I am primarily a painter and I mainly work with oil paint. This series deals with objects and places, and our relationship with them,” he continues.

“Some of my paintings feature two figures, who could be tourists visiting different places, and their connection to that place. Looking back on it now, those paintings are symbolic because life stood still for so long during lockdown.”

The 25-year-old says it can be hard for an artist starting out to make his name known, and hopes that many will go to the exhibition – which will run until the end of November.

“It takes a few months to put a series like that together, you are painting all of the time. I actually made all the frames for the paintings too. Usually you go and get them done professionally, but that costs a bomb, so I ordered the wood and sprayed it, and I was very pleased with the result.”

The 25-year-old studied art and design for a year at Moate Business College, before going on to study contemporary art in the Centre for Creative Arts and Media in Galway City, graduating in 2019.

“I enjoyed the freedom of being able to draw and paint all day with no interruptions. In school, you have a few classes a week, but in college you might start at eight and continue on until nine that evening,” adds Keith, who used to practise drawing his classmates in school, and knew he always wanted to be an artist.

Keith has now returned to do a postgrad in further education and hopes to teach art.

Catch the exhibition by Keith Watts at the Tuar Ard in Moate 9-5pm, Monday to Friday. It runs until November end. You can also check out his work on Instagram.