From the Cradle to the Cave explores the shared origins of art and language, drawing on the visual echoes of cave markings and childhood scribbles as early, embodied forms of communication. Through gesture, repetition and intuitive mark-making, the work loosens language from fixed meaning, returning it to something physical, instinctive and felt, where a line becomes a record of presence and intention.
Patrick Jude Clafferty began his visual art practice in 2016 after a twenty-five-year career as a musician, most notably as founder and songwriter with Dublin band Mexican Pets. Shifting from chords to colour, he initially focused on drawing and figurative painting, with portraiture at the centre, before his practice evolved towards abstract contemporary art. Influenced by artists such as Cy Twombly, Antoni Tàpies, Stephen Crane and Willem de Kooning, Clafferty’s work embraces texture, rhythm and the expressive potential of the handmade mark.
This exhibition marks his fifth solo show, alongside continued participation in group exhibitions. He is also represented online by Saatchi Art, where a wider selection of both new and earlier work can be viewed.
