Val McLoughlin - Quarters/Out Of Ink

QUARTERS

OUT OF INK

complementary exhibitions by artist VAL McLOUGHLIN

QUARTERS

OUT OF INK

complementary exhibitions by artist

VAL McLOUGHLIN

Quarters

Paintings

@Ballina Arts Centre

8th August - 26th September 2026

Out of Ink

Ink Paintings on Paper

@ Ballina Library

6th August - 27th August 2026

Ballina Arts Centre, Barrett St, Ballina, Co Mayo F26 NW83

Ballina Library, Pearse Street, Ballina, Co. Mayo F26 R299

QUARTERS

OUT OF INK

MARKS, STROKES AND SPACE

“Marks, strokes and space” is a phrase that artist Val McLoughlin often turns to when talking about his work, and the aptness of these words becomes evident in his two concurrent solo exhibitions, Quarters and Out of Ink.

Quarters, an exhibition of paintings, finds its roots in drawings McLoughlin made based on regular trips to the River Moy in Ballina near the artist’s birthplace over a period of four years from 2016 to 2020. Throughout these years, in all seasons and weathers, and at different times of day, he revisited and recorded his impressions through drawing, a visual diary that in his own words, attempted “to catch something”. It was only in 2020 that he began to make paintings from these studies. These past six years have seen the results of this process, in a series of painted works crystallised from these captured moments.

Throughout Quarters there is a sense of restless enquiry, and something of a dynamic painterly arc, rather than a series governed by an overarching uniform style. This epitomises McLoughlin’s artistic approach, where the final work is the result of reworking and refining until ultimately a resolution is attained. Straddling figuration, formalism and various degrees of abstraction, the works suggest an ongoing internal monologue, an autobiographical element that references not only the physical experiences caught in the moments of the original drawings, but also in personal memories and impressions that hark back to McLoughlin’s childhood: a crossroads

of past and present, of the personal and the physical; in his own words “an exhibition as journey”. In some ways Quarters calls to mind author Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet, a coalescence of journal-like episodes that subtly but eloquently evoke a quiet but distinct autobiographical presence.

McLoughlin’s synchronous exhibition Out of Ink offers an intriguing codicil to Quarters. The use of Chinese inks on Japanese Ho Sho paper delivers a more unified stylistic series of works that reference both landscape and logographic calligraphy. Reinforced by the primarily black and red palette, the ostensibly Sino-Japanese aesthetic is reinforced in the energy and immediacy of the mark-making, yet these works retain the internal visual logic and sensibility of their more refined and painterly relatives.

Together, these binary exhibitions offer an intriguing insight into McLoughlin’s artistic process, his restless and unswerving exploration, and the clarity and authenticity of his vision.

- Ian Wieczorek

2026

(Ian Wieczorek is a visual artist, curator, and writer)

QUARTERS

“To paint involves a certain crisis, or at least a crucial moment of sensation or release.”

- Cy Twombly

The exhibition title, Quarters, refers to the fact that most of the studies for these paintings were executed on the banks of the Moy across the four seasons of the year. In the process, remembrance and riverscape merged with the tactile process of sketching and painting. Memory combined past and present. Ambient sounds of wind and rain, and sensations of heat and cold became elements of the work.

In the studio, the creative evolution of the paintings was an intuitive fusion of recollections, feelings, and physical and visual impressions, all stretching across my experiences at the riverbank. This work resulted in six paintings directly related to these riverside studies.

The balance of the paintings in the exhibition allude to places that have personal significance such as Cork, Ross or Galicia. Ithaca is a reference to Homer’s Odyssey and its theme of wandering and the ultimate return home.

-

Val McLoughlin, 2026

The Mirroring River quivers, slightly, mixed media on paper,70x50cm, 2021

OUT OF INK

Ink painting has elements of calligraphy with suggestions of landscapes, with brushwork and balanced compositions that combine painting and calligraphy. The medium capitalises on its inherent fluidity and the capacity to render movement and energy. These paintings take on the form of abstract expressionism combined with references Chinese and Japanese aesthetics.

These paintings were executed using mixed inks on Japanese Ho Sho rice paper. The inks used were Chinese and acrylic inks. Ho Sho is a highly refined Kozo paper made from Ho Sho fibres which is noted for its thickness and strength.

- Val McLoughlin, 2026

OUT OF INK

OUT OF INK

Tsuru(Path) I, ink on paper, 39x28cm, 2025

OUT OF INK

Kasanari-(Piled Up), ink on paper, 28x39, 2025

Samurai I, ink on paper, 39x28cm, 2025

OUT OF INK

OUT OF INK

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Val McLoughlin is a Ballina artist whose art practice includes painting in oils, watercolour and mixed media. He is also a printmaker in wood and lino cuts, often combining the techniques.

McLoughlin studied art in the Crawford School of Art in Cork from 1971 to 1975. He exhibited extensively in group and submission exhibitions in the greater Cork area, becoming a member of the Cork Artists Collective and Cork Printmakers. Following his first solo exhibition in 1986 he has exhibited throughout Ireland including Northern Ireland, with gallery representation in London and the USA, and to date has realised 11 solo exhibitions. On his return to Ballina in 2011 he became active in the local art scene, participating in group and solo exhibitions, and also established the weekly life drawing sessions in Ballina Arts Centre. In 2018 he received his Bachelor of Arts in Contemporary Art Practices from GMIT (now ATU).

Email: valdraw2@gmail.com Mobile: 087 6847579