Watching a sunset, 8.49 pm – Andy Parsons

Opens: Thursday 12 March, 6–8:30pm

Exhibition Dates: Thursday 12 March – Thursday 16 April, 10am–5pm

Watching a sunset 8.49 pm explores how a moment in time can take years to describe. The work explores perception, memory and time. This is reflected in the different times attributed to each successive exhibition in a sequence of six that begins at QSS in Belfast. Each subsequent exhibition features works that are assigned a different moment in time, from 20.49pm through to 20.54pm

‘My current body of work is based on a scene I witnessed where a large group of people sat by a riverbank quietly watching a sunset. There was a huge crowd, as though a concert was about to begin, but it was just people coming together to enjoy the beauty of nature. 

I have spent the last two years making paintings, drawings and sculptures that try to evoke this brief moment. The fact that I saw the people sitting watching for just an instant means I have had to think really hard about what was there. And memory is inconsistent and unreliable; each image could be true, but there is nothing to prove or disprove their veracity.’

The history of art is full of instances where artists have addressed our human need for fellowship and beauty through interactions with the natural world. This work does so in a uniquely perilous time for the environment and in an era where the role of the spectator is uniquely problematic. 

In setting up a situation in the gallery, where the viewer’s gaze is returned by the people watching a sunset in the artworks raise questions are raised about neutrality and the role of the spectator.

All the shows will be accompanied by a limited edition risograph print*, and for visitors to QSS, there are a limited number of complimentary prints available.  

Made in association with Pulled in Sligo, A5 Risographs in an edition of 100.

Artist Bio

Andy Parsons practice combines working in community contexts with making drawing, sculpture and painting. Projects have focused on people and places, and on activities where people work together and help each other. Parsons has worked as Artist in Residence in many different community settings, including youth projects, community care settings for older people, schools, and a community boatbuilding project in the Sligo docks. 

Parsons recently completed a major residency at Sligo University Hospital for The Model Home of The Niland Collection in Sligo, which culminated in a major solo exhibition entitled ‘Patience’, and a recent group exhibition at Durden and Ray in Los Angeles. 

In Autumn 2023 Parsons exhibited a series of giant canvases celebrating dance and Northern Soul, at the Dock in Carrick on Shannon. Parsons has received several significant awards, including the Pollock Krasner Foundation Award, and has exhibited internationally, with solo exhibitions including the Standpoint Gallery, London, APT Gallery, London, and S.I.B. Gallery Tokyo. Works are in a number of public and private collections including Bank of America, The Niland Collection and Manchester Metropolitan University.