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Roche continues to display a talent which has a maturity beyond his years. Born in 1973 and a graduate of Dun Laoghaire College of Art, his work has absorbed the influences of both Irish and European art. Orpen and Leo Whelan are both present in his painting technique, as is Bacon in his choice of a butcher's shop as subject: hanging sides of meat and contrasting blood-colours against the clean white tiles. A purist of the old school, Roche disdains the use of photographs and only paints from life, setting up his easel in the street to capture the urban landscape, shopfronts and people. Degas' L'Absinthe motivated some of Roche's restaurant interiors, studies of the narrative between two people sitting close but unrelated. Here, the American artist Edward Hopper was the inspiration for Roche's painting, Sheries, two individuals sitting separately in a long mirrored restaurant with hanging lamps, reflections moving around them and the artist himself, busily capturing it all, in a blue pullover. Portraits include Lady by a window, in which Roche's purpose is to find the "emotional thrust" of the sitter. He captures our daily lives in this very pleasing exhibition.
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