07/09/2025
We are delighted to host an exhibition of works by Saturio Alonso, an artist who has had a significant impact on the creative landscape in Kilkenny for many decades.
‘Unhappy Island’ opens on 13 September at 5pm. The exhibition remains open from the 13th to the 17th of September at The Powerhouse, Callan, R95 X227.
Using paper, leather and wood, Unhappy Island can be seen as a cabinet of curiosities, an eclectic collection of objects. As in an ethnographic museum the objects in the exhibition were created raiding personal memories in what can, ironically, be defined as an exercise of inner colonialism. Using his Spanish background as a reference point and the propaganda aspect of the baroque art prevalent in the multitude of religious buildings of that nation, Saturio integrates that aesthetic with some of the extraordinary traditional art found in Ireland. The use of leather, a medium firmly associated with practical crafts, being at the same time one of the oldest materials used historically by our ancestors allows Alonso the opportunity to contrast the soft, organic surface with the severe form of some of the pieces.
In parallel, large paper works are transformed into tridimensional objects by folding and cutting, obliging the viewer to confront and decipher the original painting and drawing now recreated and compressed into completely different format.
Saturio Alonso is a sculptor with a background as a painter and graphic designer. He is a founder member of EL CUBRI, and was an artist mentor in KCAT Arts Centre and Kingsriver, Stoneyford. His work can be found in various public spaces around Ireland and in private and public collections in Europe and the USA.
