Victor Sloan

Victor Sloan

"Self-Portrait", silver gelatin print, with coloured pencils, 60 cm x 50 cm, 1993
Born (1945-07-16) 16 July 1945
Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Nationality Northern Irish
Education Belfast College of Art, Leeds College of Art and Design
Known for Photography, Video, Mixed Media

Victor Sloan MBE (born 1945) is a Northern Irish photographer and artist.

Life and work

Sloan born in 1945 in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland). He studied at the Royal School Dungannon, Co. Tyrone and Belfast and Leeds Colleges of Art, the latter in England. He lives and works in Portadown, County Armagh in Northern Ireland.

Employing primarily the medium of photography, he manipulates his negatives and reworks his prints with paints, inks, toners and dyes. In addition to photography, he also uses video, and printmaking techniques.[1]

Sloan's works are a response to political, social and religious concerns. He is perhaps best known for his works investigating the Orange Order in series such as: Drumming; The Walk, the Platform and the Field and The Birches.[2]

Sloan was awarded an MBE [3] in 2002. He is an academician of the Royal Ulster Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society. He won the Academy's Conor Prize in 1988 and the Gold Medal in 1995 and 2008. [4]

The Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast held a major exhibition of his work (Victor Sloan: Selected Works 1980–2000) in 2001. In 2008, the exhibition History, Locality, Allegiance, curated by Peter Richards at the Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, brought together a comprehensive selection of past works, with a particular focus on his video works.[5]

His exhibition Drift, curated by Dr Riann Coulter and Feargal O'Malley in 2014, explored a related though distinct area, tracing the story of the Vietnamese Boat People who settled in Craigavon, Northern Ireland in 1979. Sloan got to know some of these immigrants, and he has rekindled his friendship with one of them, Ka Fue Lay, now living in Salisbury. In a video piece, Sloan recounts his memories of Vietnam and Northern Ireland.[6]

Books about Sloan and his work include Marking the North by Brian McAvera (1989),[7] Victor Sloan: Selected Works by Aidan Dunne (2001),[8] Victor Sloan: Walk, by Jürgen Schneider (2004),[9] and Luxus by Glenn Patterson (2007).

"Belfast Zoo III", silver gelatin print, toner, oil pastel and torn paper, 25 cm x 25 cm, 1983

Photoworks

A typical image from the Northern Irish works of Sloan is Walk X from 1985. It is a silver gelatin print. In it we see dead centre, splitting the image, a uniformed police officer with a peaked cap. He is in profile, staring tight-lipped at the parade, feet apart in a rooted stance, symbol of law-and-order but also unusually for the North, of impartiality, indicated by his dead centre stance. From the left a huge Lambeg drum, strapped to its unseen owner's chest, juts out across the body; but it has been rendered semi-transparent so that the outline shape of the police officer can still be seen.

On one level this drum functions as a musical instrument, the rhythmic 'keeper of the beat'. But the unhinged arm, wielder of a timpani-like drum-stick, indicates not only the wardrum call, but also the potential of the drum-stick as a weapon. On another level the drum is like a Jasper Johns target with its concentric circles of black, white, black and white again for the heart of the target. The paradox is that the police officer who has often been seen, in the eyes of Catholics, as the defender of the Protestant tradition, has now become a target for his own loyalist people (the police being a largely Protestant force).[10]

From Stadium installation

Videoworks

Sloan's video work includes a 44-minute video of an 8 mm looped film fragment of The Little Rascals,(1930s), which destroys itself and catches fire. This was shown in the Gastag in Munich and in Toskanische Saulenhalle, Augsburg, Germany, 2004 as part of his installation Stadium. Gavin Weston in the Sunday Times describes it when first exhibited in the Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast:[11] "...a noisy trundling projector surrounded by four large prints at which one strains to peer through the blacked-out gloom. Staring back in time and this dingy light are the eyes of Adolf Hitler, bolstered by images of the Werner March/ Albert Speer – designed stadium that hosted the Berlin Olympics of 1936. There is no further direct reference to Jesse Owens, the Führer's gravest embarrassment, but flickering through this laden environment, archive footage of white children allowing a black child to draw the short straw, serves as an indicator".[12]

The video work Walk (28 minutes, 2004.), has been shown in Berlin and Augsburg, Germany; Belfast, Portadown and Dublin, Ireland; Pretoria, South Africa; Bialystok, Poland; Madrid, Spain; Paris, France, and Damascus, Syria.[13]

Susan McKay describes the video in the Irish Times: Walk shows, in slow, plodding motion, an Orange walk (as the parades are properly known to those who take part in them). The marchers appeared to disappear into a mirror, and the sound was distorted so that drumbeats sounded out suddenly like shots, and voices were slowed down to groans. In the end, the last shiny black shoe has marched into the mirror leaving an empty street. It is a melancholy piece".[14]

Other video works include Drumcree[15] (2001) and Fishtank[16] (2006) Ka Fue Lay.[17]

Notable exhibitions

From Walk video installation
"Untitled i (Luxus)", 2006, Lambdachrome Print, 120 x 180cm

Publications

"Route III (Lurgan)", silver gelatin print, toners and gouache, Victor Sloan

Collections

Sloan's work is held in the following public collections:[74]

References

  1. ↑ Dunne, Aidan (2001). Victor Sloan: Selected Works 1980–2000. Belfast: Ormeau Baths Gallery. ISBN 0-9540086-0-X.
  2. ↑ Graham, Colin (2013), Sloan, Victor in Northern Ireland: 30 years of Photography, Belfast Exposed/The MAC, Belfast, Northern Ireland, ISBN 978-0-9561766-1-5.
  3. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2002/birthday_honours_2002/2045364.stm
  4. ↑ http://www.troublesarchive.com/artists/victor-sloan
  5. ↑ http://goldenthreadgallery.co.uk/old/goldenthreadgalleryexhibitions2008historylocalityallegiance.htm
  6. ↑ "DRIFT - an exhibition of artworks by Victor Sloan relating to the Vietnamese Boat People - Craigavon", Northern Ireland Museums Council.
  7. ↑ McAvera, Brian (1989). Marking The North-The Work of Victor Sloan. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 1-872496-01-6
  8. ↑ Dunne, Aidan (2001). Victor Sloan: Selected Works 1980–2000. Belfast: Ormeau Baths Gallery. ISBN 0-9540086-0-X
  9. ↑ Schneider, Jürgen (2004). Victor Sloan: Walk. Augsburg, Germany: Kulturbüro der Stadt.
  10. ↑ Brian McAvera (1989), Marking The North – The Work of Victor Sloan. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 1-872496-01-6.
  11. ↑ Gavin Weston, “Victor Sloan: Stadium”, The Sunday Times, 9 August 1998
  12. ↑ Schneider, Jürgen (2004). Victor Sloan: Walk. Augsburg, Germany: Kulturbüro der Stadt.
  13. ↑ http://www.art-action.org/proposition/catalogue/detail_cat.php?codeoeuvre=W67716&lang=en&oeuvre=W67716
  14. ↑ http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/a-different-show-of-colours-1.463780
  15. ↑ Susan McKat, "The sooner Love Ulster disappears the better", Irish News, 7 September 2005.
  16. ↑ http://circaartmagazine.website/c119-review-victor-sloan-and-glenn-patterson-luxus/
  17. ↑ https://vimeo.com/103467067.
  18. ↑ David Brett, "Views from Ulster", British Journal of Photography, London, July.
  19. ↑ Belinda Loftus (1986), Drumming: Victor Sloan. Belfast: Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
  20. ↑ Brian McAvera (1986), Directions Out - An investigation into a selection of artists whose work has been formed by the post 1969 situation in Northern Ireland. Dublin: Douglas Hyde Gallery. ISBN 0-907660-20-7.
  21. ↑ Brian McAvera (1987), Magnetic North. Derry: Orchard Gallery. ISBN 0-907797-35-0.
  22. ↑ Declan McGonagle, James Coleman (1988), Selected Images. London: Riverside Studios. ISBN 1-870172-40-X
  23. ↑ Liam Kelly (1988), The Birches: Victor Sloan. Belfast: Octagon Gallery.
  24. ↑ Jamshid Mirfenderesky (1988), Ulster Art in the 80s. Dublin: RHA Gallagher Gallery. ISBN 1-871630-00-2.
  25. ↑ Declan McGonagle, James Odling-Smee, Gerry Burns (1989), Victor Sloan: Walls. Derry: Orchard Gallery. ISBN 0-907797-52-0.
  26. ↑ John Hutchinson (1990), A New Tradition: Irish Art of the Eighties. Dublin: Douglas Hyde Gallery. ISBN 0-907660-37-1.
  27. ↑ Brian McAvera (1989), Marking The North - The Work of Victor Sloan. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 1-872496-01-6.
  28. ↑ Jonathan Watkins, Gerry Burns, Martin Strather (1991), Kunst Europa. H. Schmidt. ISBN 3-87439-240-6.
  29. ↑ David Mellor, Nancy Wood (1992), I-D Nationale. Edinburgh: Portfolio. ISBN 0-9520608-0-9.
  30. ↑ Michael McCaughan (1992), Acts of Faith: Victor Sloan, Dublin, published by the Gallery of Photography.
  31. ↑ Jürgen Schneider, (1995), Victor Sloan: Borne Sulinowo. Derry: Orchard Gallery. ISBN 0-907797-82-2.
  32. ↑ Finton O’Toole (1995), Lie of the Land. Dublin: Gallery of Photography. ISBN 0-9526741-0-6.
  33. ↑ Jürgen Schneider (1996), Victor Sloan. Poland: Biuro Wystaw Artystycznych. ISBN 83-903457-9-X.
  34. ↑ Val Williams (1997), On The Bright Side Of Life: Zeitgenössische Britische Fotografie. Berlin: Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst. ISBN 3-926796-50-2'
  35. ↑ JamesKerr, Mairin Murray (1998), In Context, Victor Sloan: Stadium. Derry: Context Gallery.
  36. ↑ Martin McCabe (1999), Revealing Views. London: Royal Festival Hall. ISBN 1-85332-194-X.
  37. ↑ C International Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, Canada, No. 72, Winter 2002, pp. 44-45.
  38. ↑ Jürgen Schneider (2004), Victor Sloan: Walk. Augsburg, Germany: Kulturbüro der Stadt
  39. ↑ Joseph McBrinn, “Portadown: Orange Segments and Seeing Orange”, Circa , Belfast, No. 113, Autumn, pp. 84-86.
  40. ↑ Brian McAvera (2006), Icons of the North: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art. Belfast: Golden Thread Gallery. ISBN 0-9549633-3-4.
  41. ↑ http://www.indymedia.ie/article/79151?userlanguage=ga&save_prefs=true
  42. ↑ "Victor Sloan: Walk", Les Rencontres Internationales.
  43. ↑ http://goldenthreadgallery.co.uk/old/goldenthreadgalleryexhibitions2007thingswemayhavemissed.htm
  44. ↑ Glenn Patterson (2007), Luxus. Portadown: Millennium Court Arts Centre. ISBN 978-0-9549816-5-5.
  45. ↑ "Diversions 2007", Dublinks.
  46. ↑ http://goldenthreadgallery.co.uk/old/goldenthreadgalleryexhibitions2008historylocalityallegiance.htm
  47. ↑ http://www.iwm.org.uk/
  48. ↑ Peter Richards (2008), Contemporary Art: Northern Ireland. Museum of the Heilongjiang Daily, China
  49. ↑ Declan McGonagle (2008), A Shout in the Street: Collective Histories of Northern Irish Art. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Golden Thread Gallery. ISBN 978-0-9557469-2-5.
  50. ↑ Aidan Dunne, "Attacking the subject of 20th century conflict", Irish Times, Dublin, 11 February 2009.
  51. ↑ James Morrison, "The Troubles we’ve seen", The Independent (The New Review), London, 14 June 2009, pp. 12-15.
  52. ↑ "The Northern Ireland Collection: Fresh Perspectives", Wolverhampton Arts & Heritage, 15 November2008.
  53. ↑ http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/features/visual-arts/view-napoleons-nose
  54. ↑ http://galeria-arsenal.pl/en/exhibitions/elective-perspective.html
  55. ↑ http://northeastpeace.com/2010/05/official-opening-of-two-new-exhibitions/
  56. ↑ http://www.allartnow.com/
  57. ↑ http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/events/portrait-of-the-north/
  58. ↑ "Syrian Artists Talking", The Naughton Gallery.
  59. ↑ http://www.liverpoolbaltictriangle.co.uk/stories/view/36/
  60. ↑ http://cca-derry-londonderry.org/voices-from-the-levant/
  61. ↑ http://platformartsbelfast.com/
  62. ↑ http://culturaldevelopmentconsulting.com/2012/09/28/11th-international-photography-festival-of-aleppo/
  63. ↑ http://www.cityofculture2013.com/event/picturing-derry/
  64. ↑ "Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography", Belfast Exposed.
  65. ↑ http://www.femcwilliam.com/
  66. ↑ http://engineroomgallery.blogspot.com.es/2013/09/creative-exchange-presents-art-in.html
  67. ↑ http://nmni.com/um/Collections/Fine-Art/Troubles-Art
  68. ↑ "Voices Travel: A Conversation Between Two Harbours", Golden Thread Gallery.
  69. ↑ http://nireland.britishcouncil.org/about/press/craigavon-50-years-modernity
  70. ↑ http://www.universityartgallery.org/victor-sloan/
  71. ↑ http://www.irishartsreview.com/whats_on/down-art-adrift/
  72. ↑ http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/events/art-troubles/
  73. ↑ https://www.lensculture.com/articles/victor-sloan-the-baron-hotel
  74. ↑ Aidan Dunne, (2001), Victor Sloan: Selected Works 1980-2000. Belfast: Ormeau Baths Gallery. ISBN 0-9540086-0-X.
  75. ↑ http://www.artscouncil-ni.org/artwork/imu/
  76. ↑ http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?query=victor+Sloan&submit=&items_per_page=10
  77. ↑ "Imperial War Museum, London".
  78. ↑ Gallagher, William (2006). Sloan, Victor in The National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland – volume 2, 1989–1999. Limerick, Ireland: University of Limerick Press. ISBN 0-946846-33-2.
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