Lara Grufferty

Lara Grufferty is a visual artist from Cork, specialising in a diverse range of printmaking techniques. Upon graduating in 2020, with an Honours degree in Print Contemporary Practice, Lara was the recipient of the prestigious Limerick Printmakers bursary. She is now living and working in Limerick City. During her under-graduate career Lara’s work was displayed internationally and nationally in numerous self-initiated, group and inter-disciplinary exhibitions. Following graduating her work has been added to a collection of zines by queer Irish artists (Qu-Ines), on permanent display in the Source Arts Centre, Thurles. Experimentation and play are quintessential to Lara in her practice, she tries to approach her practice with humour, joy, and a smile.

‘Something about the Night’ is a monoprint produced in Lara’s ongoing print practice. Informed by the blanket of the night sky, this piece emphasises the opulence and depth of the colour navy. The abstract nature of her work, as well as leaving the meaning of the work as ambiguous as possible, is an invitation to the spectator to imagine their own narrative and interpretations surrounding the work. 

The addition of paper sculpture to this edition is an experiment in challenging the eye’s perception of one colour. It is an attempt to further her current area of focus beyond the two-dimensional paper plane. Lara’s visual practice is a visual record of an exploration of colour output through print processes. She builds layers of colours through these processes, observing how they intermingle on the surface of the paper. Her use of colour is both intuitive and arbitrary, often decided only after the previous layer of colour has been printed. In this way, Lara’s practice and approach towards print processes becomes alchemistic and ritualistic.