Photograph by Francois Jonquet
Samuel Laurence Cunnane works with analogue photography, capturing scenes with a detached “floating eye” perspective. Whether in Guangzhou, Tehran, the Balkans, or his native Kerry, Cunnane is drawn to the unnoticed periphery: the outskirts of the city, where plants battle with concrete; the edges of housing developments, where newly built homes surround mounts of upturned earth; the frontier between interior and exterior, demarcated by fences, windows, topiary. His photographs deromanticise the popularly sentimental, with landscapes interrupted by utilitarian infrastructure, and yet their sensitivity to light, framing and texture give them a cinematic quality. Responding to the increasingly dematerialised nature of contemporary image making, Cunnane remains connected to the physicality of the production process, printing his photographs by hand in a darkroom. The resulting C-type prints are relatively small in size, resonating with the restrained, intimate nature of the work.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane lives and works in Co Kerry, Ireland.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Blue road, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
32 x 47.5 cm image size / 12.6 x 18.7 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Fabric, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed
edition 2 of 3 + 1AP
32 x 47.5 cm / 12.6 x 18.7 in image size
53 x 68.5 x 4 cm / 20.9 x 27 x 1.6 in framed
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Prop stand, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
32 x 44 cm / 12.6 x 17.3 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Dorje, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
32 x 47.5 cm / 12.6 x 18.7 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Boundary, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
32 x 47.5 cm / 12.6 x 18.7 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Lucy II, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
32 x 47.5 cm / 12.6 x 18.7 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Signpost, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
19.4 x 29.5 cm / 7.6 x 11.6 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Mirielle, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
29.5 x 19.4 cm / 11.6 x 7.6 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Sicily, 2023
Hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
19.4 x 29.5 cm / 7.6 x 11.6 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Autostrada, 2023
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
19.5 x 29.5 cm / 7.7 x 11.6 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Siobhán 1, 2019
hand-printed silver gelatin print, edition of 3 + 1AP
27.8 x 37.5 cm / 10.9 x 14.8 in image size
50.5 x 60.4 cm / 19.9 x 23.8 in framed
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
High-Deck-Siedlung, 2023
Hand-printed silver gelatin print, framed, edition of 3 + 1AP
19.5 x 29.5 cm / 7.7 x 11.6 in image size
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Celia looks out the window, 2016
hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, edition of 3 + 1AP
10.2 x 15.2 cm / 4 x 6 in image size
27.6 x 32.6 x 3 cm / 10.9 x 12.8 x 1.2 in framed
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Kitchen, Rue de Corinthe, 2013
hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, edition of 3 + 1AP
15 x 10 cm / 5.9 x 3.9 in image size
33.2 x 28.2 x 3 cm / 13.1 x 11.1 x 1.2 in framed
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Legs, 2013
hand-printed C-type print on archival photo paper, edition of 3 + 1AP
10 x 15 cm / 3.9 x 5.9 in image size
28.2 x 33.2 x 3 cm / 11.1 x 13.1 x 1.2 in framed
Samuel Laurence Cunnane has been the subject of exhibitions at Kerlin Gallery (2020, 2015); OCT Boxes Museum of Art, Shunde, China (2018), Öktem&Aykut, Istanbul (2021, 2017); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2016) and THEODORE: Art, New York (2015). Recent group exhibitions and projects include National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (2019) and Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda (2018). Cunnane’s work can be found in the collections of OCT Boxes Art Museum, Shunde, China; The TIA Collection, Sante Fe, USA; the National Gallery of Ireland; the Arts Council of Ireland; the Trinity College Art Collection, Dublin. A publication with a text by Brian Dillon, Professor of Creative Writing at Queen Mary University of London, was published in 2020 and is available here.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
BEADS, 2023
Stations, Berlin, Germany
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Samuel Laurence Cunnane, 2018
OCT Boxes Art Museum, Shunde, China
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Samuel Laurence Cunnane, 2016
Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Samuel Laurence Cunnane, 2015
Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Samuel Laurence Cunnane
Fortnightly Features Presents, 2014
Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Meet Samuel Laurence Cunnane, he specialises in creating prints by hand using analogue photographic techniques.
Join Samuel Laurence Cunnane for an informal walkthrough of his new exhibition.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane's work is featured in Radical Archaelogies: Unearthing Landscape in Contemporary Irish Art, curated by Chris Clarke and Fiona Kearney in collaboration with Dr. Benjamin Gearey (Dept of Archaeology, UCC) at GLUCKSMAN, Cork.
Samuel Laurence Cunnane and Ailbhe Ní Bhriain are both included in THIS RURAL, curated by Miriam O’Connor & Paul McAree.
Artists: Dorje de Burgh, Samuel Laurence Cunnane, Aleana Egan, Louise Hopkins, Seda Mimaroğlu, Cecilia Szalkowicz
