Danish artist Krass Clement’s photographic work emerges from two traditions: Scandinavian melancholy and the ‘flaneur’ tradition from the Parisian school. Clement’s work is concerned with reflecting interior states of mind rather than with documenting real life situations. His dark, stripped-back aesthetic combines with a stream of consciousness approach to evoke introspective, psychological landscapes that sit somewhere between fiction and reality.

Drum was photographed over a single evening in a small pub in Drum, County Monaghan. With only a few rolls of film (and a rumored five bottles of Guinness), Clement created one of the most important contributions to the international canon of contemporary photo books. Through subtle shifts in focus and masterful filmic sequencing, the book comes to concentrate on one principal character in the shadowy pub: a hunched, weather-beaten man sitting alone with his drink. The work is a quiet meditation on community, the outsider, alienation and the terrors of being alone.

This exhibition also includes the world premiere of work made in Dublin in 1991. It continues Clement’s concern with the exploration of place as a reflection of the inner psyche, presenting a view of Dublin at odds with itself. The lively theatre of street life contrasts with melancholic, empty streetscapes. Both bodies of work were made during a visit to Ireland by Clement as part of a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annamakerrig, County Monaghan.

In addition, work from the project ‘Drum: Portrait of a Village’ launched in the Protestant Hall. Over the past year, the people of Drum have engaged with artists, curators and heritage specialists to record, create and share authentic representations of Drum past and present. This project, developed as part of Monaghan County Creative Ireland programme, features contemporary colour portraits by Irish photographer Kevin Fox, and a display of photographs from local family albums, which give a unique insight into life in rural county Monaghan from the 1870s to the 1960s.

Krass Clement (b 1946) lives and works in Copenhagen. A self-taught photographer, he graduated as a film director from the Danish Film School in 1973, though continued with photography which he had practiced since his early youth. His first book, Skygger af Øjeblikke (Shadows of Moments) appeared in 1978, and since then he has continued to create a strong personal body of work with the photobook as his favorite medium. His work is in many public and private collections, including The National Photomuseum of the Royal Library of Denmark; The Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.