The Project Twins return to Tipperary with first solo show in county

Civic, Radar, Level, Rotor, a new body of work from The Project Twins, James and Michael Fitzgerald, a collaborative art duo and twin brothers, is now on display at the South Tipperary Arts Centre in Nelson Street, Clonmel until February 22.

The exhibition is a result of the Arts Centre’s Tipperary Artist(s) in Residence 2024, an initiative supported by the Tipperary Arts Office.

The Fitzgerald twins grew up in Cashel, and are now based in Cork City. Their practice is multi-disciplinary, spanning painting, print-making, design, illustration and three-dimensional work.

They have exhibited in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Glucksman Gallery, Cork and TULCA, Galway, with works held in the permanent collections of The Glucksman Gallery, UCC, the OPW and the Zuckerman Museum of Art, Georgia, USA.

The Project Twins say “We are looking forward to exhibiting in the South Tipperary Arts Centre. We grew up in Cashel and this is our first solo show in Tipperary. It’s nice to start the new year with a solo show and we are grateful to have the time and space over the past six months to create new work and resolve some previous ideas.

“The work for this show is a slight departure from our previous work. It’s much looser and more experimental. We have been working with new materials in an almost collage-like way. We have been using tiles, canvas, gloves, eyelets and duct tape to create these new pieces. We will also have a number of works on paper using oil stick and collage”.

The exhibition’s title, Civic, Radar, Level, Rotor, is drawn from the first four examples from a list of palindromes on Wikipedia.

Palindromes are symmetrical by nature, suggesting symmetry or balance. The apparent randomness of the title creates a collage-like quality, where disparate elements come together to suggest new meanings.

The clunky, almost mechanical rhythm evokes the feeling of algorithmic or computer-generated logic. The first two words, civic and level seem to suggest societal structures, while radar and rotor introduce technological or mechanical overtones.

The Project Twins have completed several large-scale public and private art commissions. Currently they are working on a permanent public art piece for Luisen-Gymnasium as part of Kunst Kommission Düsseldorf.

They have recently been awarded the Arts Council Visual Artist Bursary 2024. Alongside their fine art practice, they regularly produce editorial illustrations for an array of international newspapers and publications.

Their work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, Time magazine and The Economist, amongst others.

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