Abstract

Vernacular Inscription was an exhibition curated by artist and illustrator John Hewitt at the Nickle Arts Museum in Calgary. The exhibition was inspired by an article titled 'Comic Relief' written by the international artist and writer Mark Hampson in Printmaking Today Vol. 10 No. 4 that explored the ideas behind Vernacular Inscription, the relevant research for this outcome was reviewed in this article and appeared alongside an image of one of the works. John Hewitt was Senior Lecturer in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art. The exhibition included eminent artists such as Chris Orr RA, Peter Lloyd and Adam Dant. The work that Oran O’Reilly produced for this exhibition was influenced by satirical cartoon and caricature. The research for this exhibition included exploration of traditional and contemporary print processes that would best define the lineage of comic narrative. The work culminated in 3 large-scale pieces of work (60 in x 40 in). The resulting pieces explored the relationship between reality and imagination and reviewed current political and social themes. The exhibition was reviewed on the online magazine 'The Gauntlet' by Diana Olowa, on April 4th 2002. As a result of this exhibition Oran was invited to contribute to the Royal College of Art publication entitled ‘War’ in 2003, ISBN 1-874175-98-5. He was also later asked to write an article for the international arts magazine ‘Miser and Now’ about the curator of Vernacular Inscription, John Hewitt. This appeared under the title ‘Provincial Societies’ Issue 4, 2004, alongside other contributors such as Gordon Cheung and Danny Rolph.