30 December 2025
By Valerie Ryan
valerie@TheCork.ie
Cork County Council Presents a Solo Exhibition of Work by Peter Nash – Backwater Studios, Cork, Ireland – 2022 / Photograph: Jed Niezgoda – www.jedniezgoda.com
Peter Nash is an artist living and working in Cork county who works across visual art disciplines including sculpture, print, drawing and animation. In his solo show at LHQ Gallery titled, “All This For Nothing”, Nash explores pre-internet sources of knowledge and methods of communication.
“All This For Nothing” is a multi-media exhibition which has come out of the artist’s ongoing research into pre-internet sources of knowledge. The works explore concepts including digital exclusion and polarisation of debate. Mechanical bird sculptures call out to each other across the gallery, establishing territories and communicating through a tangle of wires and electronic circuitry. On the walls are displayed; a series of ink and pencil drawings, a collection of annotated diagrams, maps and found imagery, showing the varied and often messy human thoughts, images and source material that merge together in the process of generating an artwork.
Meticulous methods of making, including drawing, wood carving and animation are deliberately chosen and they are used as tools for slowing down; to gather, process and share information and ideas. A handmade look is present in all of the work as an antidote to the increasing digital modes of making and connecting.
The Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Mary Linehan Foley announced the exhibition, saying, “We are delighted to present this work by Peter Nash at LHQ Gallery. His work is a commentary on our reliance on modern technology and brings to life animatrons, and other pieces that don’t have productivity at their core. He asks the question, what is all of this technology for? I encourage all to visit the exhibition at LHQ Gallery.”
The work looks at contemporary systems of digital communication and machine learning. Feelings of isolation and frustration are common reactions to the relentless march of technological progress. In an era where each new system update can leave one feeling more obsolete, helplessness often becomes anger which can be so easily manipulated and misdirected. “All This For Nothing” is an attempt to find a visual language to translate these feelings without resorting to anger.
“All This For Nothing” opens on Friday 9th January and runs until 27th February at LHQ Gallery. An opening reception will take place on 9th January from 6pm, all are welcome to attend. LHQ Gallery is open Monday to Friday 9am-5.30pm, except for public holidays. LHQ Gallery is managed by the Library and Arts Service at Cork County Council, supported by the Arts Council.
Background
Peter Nash is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Ireland. He obtained a BA Honours Degree in Fine Art (Sculpture) from Sheffield Hallam University, England in 2003 and graduated in 2016 with an MA in Art & Process from MTU Crawford College of Art and Design. Nash is a studio member of The Backwater Artists Group and Cork Printmakers and a part-time lecturer at MTU Crawford College of Art and Design. His work is widely exhibited throughout Ireland and the UK, and is held in private and public collections in Ireland, the UK and the US.