Ah, don't struggle, do not kick;
I have you now in my hand.
Your foot has been caught in the net:
Dangling, drying out. Just in time.

Almanac is pleased to present Room for an Arrow, a solo exhibition by Irish artist Joshua Sex.

A subject does not always allow itself to be caught so easily. Making his way through the obstacle course of representation, the poet hounds his subject, and once it is caught, it breathes a sigh of relief. Leaping from the springboard of the subject into the unknown, the experience is not unlike the dizzy-drunk sensation of a spinning room translated onto an ill-fitting stretcher.

Not unlike the process of writing, painting requires discharging the elements of the story, evaporating the initial cornerstones that create a narrative until what is left is the experience. The paintings give us no more than a glimpse of something familiar, using unconscious abstractions as way of travelling through the story without the house of its premise falling down around its maker.

The density of these works is something other than sculptural - it is a quickening of the pulse, a solidification of character. A flinty gaze rests on a young blade, caught in his element.

Through the accidents and detours collected on the way, the spontaneity of the stage takes form on top of re-appropriated canvasses, the tones of a past life glinting through the new marks, with a transparency not unlike a layer of dust.

Joshua Sex (Dublin, 1985) studied at NCAD, Dublin and RCA, London.Recent shows include Cat, Dog and Divil at the Hockney gallery, Spooky Action at the Blyth gallery and Satellike at the Departure foundation.

A toe twined, looped at the knuckle twice.
Your parents squawk from the metal fence.
With small shears I prune you from your place,
I toss you straight up; you say: Good riddance!