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Chris Leach

@chris__leach

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Drawn and smaller scale works with a slant towards the political..

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Kathy Prendergast & Chris Leach
Cities of the World
Opening Sat 9 August 3pm - 5pm
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland

Butler Gallery, in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival, is delighted to present an exhibition exploring the theme of ‘Cities of the World’ by two artists, Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach. The two had never met, but are intrinsically linked by this subject matter which they realise in very different ways.

Kathy Prendergast, an Irish London-based artist, is represented by her suite of 113 City Drawings which were begun in 1992. Owned by IMMA, they have not been exhibited in many years. Based on contemporary maps of the world’s capital cities, Prendergast compresses each city, large and small, and follows her own sense of scale to contain each city on the same size paper. Transcribing the network of lines with understated pencil marks she conveys the pattern of routes through, within and around each city, imposing an unfathomable sense of democracy on the world. The skeletal images reduce even the largest and most powerful communities to a delicate network of lines that resemble organic patterns in nature.

Chris Leach, a British Manchester-based artist, began his Capital Cities drawing project in 2012 and continued until 2022. He has completed 196 tiny drawings of every recognised capital city in the world which together function as one piece of work. Leach’s miniature drawings are solidly three-dimensional, drawn with pencil, scalpel and burnishing tools on the gessoed face of an oak block. Leach is interested in how scale can be used as a tool for both psychological and representational investigation.

Artists Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach will be in discussion about the this exhibition in the Parade Tower on 12 August.

https://www.kilkennyarts.ie/programme/kathy-prendergast-chris-leach-cities-of-the-world-2

#drawing #miniature #drawn #grissaille #minimal #pencil #gesso #graphite #art #artist #artwork #contemporaryart #fineart #capitals #studio #conceptualart #drawingproject #landscape #kunst #panorama #topography #architecture #cityscape #kilkennyartsfestival #butlergallery #exhibition by @chris__leach

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a year ago

Kathy Prendergast & Chris Leach
Cities of the World
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland

Until 26 October 2025
Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 11am - 5pm

Butler Gallery, in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival is delighted to present an exhibition exploring the theme of ‘Cities of the World’ by two artists, Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach. The two had never met, but are intrinsically linked by this subject matter which they realise in very different ways.

Kathy Prendergast, an Irish London-based artist, is represented by her suite of 113 City Drawings which were begun in 1992. Owned by IMMA, they have not been exhibited in many years. Based on contemporary maps of the world’s capital cities, Prendergast compresses each city, large and small, and follows her own sense of scale to contain each city on the same size paper. Transcribing the network of lines with understated pencil marks she conveys the pattern of routes through, within and around each city, imposing an unfathomable sense of democracy on the world. The skeletal images reduce even the largest and most powerful communities to a delicate network of lines that resemble organic patterns in nature.

Chris Leach, a British Manchester-based artist, began his Capital Cities drawing project in 2012 and continued until 2022. He has completed 196 tiny drawings of every recognised capital city in the world which together function as one piece of work. Leach’s miniature drawings are solidly three-dimensional, drawn with pencil, scalpel and burnishing tools on the gessoed face of an oak block. Leach is interested in how scale can be used as a tool for both psychological and representational investigation.

Additionally, a film programme, ‘City as Character’, will highlight iconic cities in both mainstream and art house cinema. Co-curated by Butler Gallery and Out of Focus, films will be shown in the Digital Gallery

#drawing #miniature #drawn #grissaille #minimal #pencil #gesso #graphite #art #artist #artwork #contemporaryart #fineart #capitals #studio #conceptualart #drawingproject #landscape #kunst #panorama #topography #architecture #cityscape #kilkennyartsfestival #butlergallery #exhibition taken in Butler Gallery by @chris__leach

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a year ago

ARTIST TALK TODAY 12PM

PARADE TOWER

Kathy Prendergast & Chris Leach
Cities of the World

Artists Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach will be in discussion about the exhibition in the Parade Tower today at 12pm.

Join artists Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach as they discuss their joint Butler Gallery exhibition, Cities of the World. In conversation with Anna O’Sullivan, exhibition curator and Butler Gallery Director and Dr Yvonne Scott.

Dr Scott is an Emeritus Fellow and former Associate Professor of History of Art at Trinity College Dublin. She was awarded the RHA Gold Medal for 2025 in recognition of her services to Irish art. She has researched and published extensively in modern and contemporary art, including analysis of various aspects of the work of artist Kathy Prendergast. Her most recent book is Landscape and Environment in Contemporary Irish Art, published by Churchill House Press in association with the Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2023.

https://www.kilkennyarts.ie/programme/kathy-prendergast-chris-leach-cities-of-the-world-2

#drawing #miniature #drawn #grissaille #minimal #pencil #gesso #graphite #art #artist #artwork #contemporaryart #fineart #capitals #studio #conceptualart #drawingproject #landscape #kunst #panorama #topography #architecture #cityscape #kilkennyartsfestival #butlergallery #exhibition #artisttalk taken in Kilkenny Castle by @chris__leach

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a year ago

I'm very pleased to announce I will be showing this recent piece of work 'Even as a shadow, even as a dream' at the Whitaker Open in Rawtenstall.

I look forward to seeing you at the Opening Event tomorrow Saturday 17th of October, 2 – 4pm.

The full exhibition is available to view until 13th December 2026.

'Even as a shadow, even as a dream'
Oil on oak panel
88mm X 114mm

#artexhibition
#artforsale
#artist
#art

I am pleased to announce I will be showing this recent piece of work 'Even as a shadow, even as a dream' at the Whitaker Open.

I look forward to seeing you at the Opening Event on the 17th of October, 2 – 4pm.

The full exhibition is available to view until 13th December 2026.

'Even as a shadow, even as a dream'
Oil on oak panel
88mm x 114mm

#artexhibition
#artist
#artcollector
#painting taken in The Whitaker - Rossendale Museum and Art Gallery by @chris__leach

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2 days ago

'The Russian Aircraft Carrier Admiral Kuznetsov sailing down the English Channel.'
Oil on Vellum 2020
60 x 40mm
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#miniature #oilpainting #vellum #russian #aircraftcarrier taken in English Channel by @chris__leach

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12 days ago

Artist Chris Leach discusses the toll a ten-year project can have on the mind and body, at times wondering if the work would ever be completed and the satisfaction of seeing it on show in Butler Gallery.

These works are on show in our Main Gallery as part of our 'Cities of the World' exhibition, also featuring works by Kathy Prendergast, in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Learn more about this exhibition on our website.

@chris__leach @kathypprendergast @KilkennyArtsFestival

#butlergallery #butlergallerykilkenny #kilkennyartsfestival #KAF #KAF25 #artgallery #artexhibition #kilkenny #kilkennyarts #kilkennycity #visitkilkenny #discoverireland #irelandsancienteast #moderart #exhibition #exhibitions #fineart #contemporaryart by @chris__leach

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a year ago

Butler Gallery, in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival, is delighted to present an exhibition exploring the theme of ‘Cities of the World’ by two artists, Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach.

Kathy Prendergast, an Irish London-based artist, is represented by her suite of 113 City Drawings which were begun in 1992. Prendergast was awarded the prestigious Premio 2000 prize at the Venice Biennale for the City Drawings series in 1995; owned by IMMA, they have not been exhibited in their entirety in many years. Based on contemporary maps of the world’s capital cities, Prendergast compresses each city, large and small, and follows her own sense of scale to contain each city on the same size paper. Transcribing the network of lines with understated pencil marks she conveys the pattern of routes through, within and around each city, imposing an unfathomable sense of democracy on the world. The skeletal images reduce even the largest and most powerful communities to a delicate network of lines that resemble organic patterns in nature.

Chris Leach, a British Manchester-based artist, began his Capital Cities drawing project in 2012 in Ireland where the majority of this body of work was created with the project continuing until 2023. Leach completed 196 tiny drawings of every recognised capital city in the world which together functions as one piece of work. These meticulously crafted miniature drawings are solidly three-dimensional, drawn with pencil, scalpel and burnishing tools on the gessoed face of an oak block. Leach is also interested in how scale can be used as a tool for both psychological and representational investigation. Consequently, the work by its very nature demands a mental recalibration by the viewer to still oneself to engage with each city drawing.

The cities work by Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach is a fascinating juxtaposition and prompts wider discussions around geography, architecture and politics—what cities say about us and what they don’t.

#drawing #miniature #drawn #grissaille #minimal #pencil #gesso #graphite #art #artist #artwork #contemporaryart #fineart
#artexhibition #kunst #butlergallery taken in Butler Gallery by @chris__leach

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a year ago

by @chris__leach

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10 months ago

New work - just finished

'Even as a shadow, even as a dream.'

88mm X 114mm

Oil on panel

#newart #artist #painting #artcollector taken in Hebden Bridge by @chris__leach

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5 months ago

New work - just finished

La Serenissima
Silverpoint, gouache and oak gall ink on paper
211mm x 138mm

I did an interrail tour of Europe in 1991 and after ambling round France, Italy and crashing a motorbike in Corfu I spent a long day wandering the back streets of Venice. This drawing derives from an image I took that day.
#art #drawing #venice #fineart #artist taken in Venice, Italy by @chris__leach

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7 months ago

Look who came from Mayo to see our exhibition.. the very wonderful @maher.alice .. Thank you Alice!

Cities of the World
Kathy Prendergast & Chris Leach
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland

Until 26 October 2025
Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 11am - 5pm

Butler Gallery, in association with Kilkenny Arts Festival is delighted to present an exhibition exploring the theme of ‘Cities of the World’ by two artists, Kathy Prendergast and Chris Leach. The two had never met, but are intrinsically linked by this subject matter which they realise in very different ways.

Kathy Prendergast, an Irish London-based artist, is represented by her suite of 113 City Drawings which were begun in 1992. Owned by IMMA, they have not been exhibited in many years. Based on contemporary maps of the world’s capital cities, Prendergast compresses each city, large and small, and follows her own sense of scale to contain each city on the same size paper. Transcribing the network of lines with understated pencil marks she conveys the pattern of routes through, within and around each city, imposing an unfathomable sense of democracy on the world. The skeletal images reduce even the largest and most powerful communities to a delicate network of lines that resemble organic patterns in nature.

Chris Leach, a British Manchester-based artist, began his Capital Cities drawing project in 2012 and continued until 2022. He has completed 196 tiny drawings of every recognised capital city in the world which together function as one piece of work. Leach’s miniature drawings are solidly three-dimensional, drawn with pencil, scalpel and burnishing tools on the gessoed face of an oak block. Leach is interested in how scale can be used as a tool for both psychological and representational investigation.

Additionally, a film programme, ‘City as Character’, will highlight iconic cities in both mainstream and art house cinema. Co-curated by Butler Gallery and Out of Focus, films will be shown in the Digital Gallery

#drawing #miniature #drawn #grissaille #minimal #pencil #gesso #graphite #art #artist #artwork #contemporaryart #fineart #capitals #studio #conceptualart #drawingproject #landscape #kunst taken in Butler Gallery by @chris__leach

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a year ago

Saudi Arabia المملكة العربية السعودية - Riyadh الرياض
42mm x 31.5mm
Pencil, scalpel, burnishing tool, handmade gesso on sized quarter sawn oak.

This drawing is number 152 in my Capital Cities drawing project and will be shown att:

Kathy Prendergast & Chris Leach
Cities of the World
Opening Sat 9 August 3pm - 5pm
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland

More information on this piece and other drawings in the project available at
www.chrisleach.art/capital-cities.html
www.chrisleach.art

#saudiarabia #riyadh
#drawing #draw #drawn #miniature #grissaille #minimalist #pencil #gesso #graphite #pencildrawing #art #artist #artwork #contemporaryart #fineart #capital #landscape #work #panorama #topography #architecture #cityscape #kilkennyartsfestival #butlergallery #exhibition
#المملكة العربية السعودية taken in Butler Gallery by @chris__leach

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a year ago