gregory seán sheehan
visual artist

slumbering -
almost out of sight

Although firmly anchored in the unique topography of a particular landscape, Gregory Sheehan’s work would not be described as landscape painting in a geographical, pictorial, or realistic sense.

For the last three decades Sheehan has been working with mountain turf gathered from blanket-bogland in Ireland. His deep connection to this archaic material activated a cascade of impressions which transformed his modus operandi and the subject matter of his work.

Gregory Sheehan explores a transposed view of a landscape — the focus directed towards both the inherent processes involved in the landscapes formation and the evolutionary and transformational qualities slumbering therein; just out of sight and just beyond comprehension.


» Turf, or bog-peat is a material which bears witness to cycles of growth, decay and continuous transformations. In other words, a material with an ecological, geological and mythical narrative. Turf speaks to us in quiet unobtrusive ways, perhaps reminding us that we are anchored in and part of a very finely balanced ecological environment «

Re-edited in October 2024, this short video is about a sense of place and inspiration. The footage was taken on a visit to the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains in 2017. The objects and paintings evolved subsequently.

Music: © petroglyph-music Ulises Labaronnie | A place in the silence

Arboretum XXXIV
Mountain turf, granite, pigment, on linen
50 x 57 cm | 2017 - 2023

Price and availability on request