fred@fred-london.com Stephen Lawlor Cu 7 January – 7 February 2009 Fred [London] is delighted to present an exhibition of new paintings by leading Irish artist, Stephen Lawlor. Taking its title from the chemical symbol for copper, Cu, will comprise fourteen small, rich paintings, of the extraordinary and unique panorama surrounding two ancient and disused mines, sited on either side of the Irish Sea: at Avoca, in County Wicklow, and at Mynedd Parys, near Amlwch, on Anglesey – and situated as they are at either end of the same copper seam as it emerges from the sea. Owned at one time by the same company, both once thrived, but fell into decline in the mid-nineteenth century, and disrepair in the mid-twentieth. Left behind is a landscape built of a fabulously rich array of colours betraying the vast cocktail of minerals found in its soil. It has a magical presence. Lawlor is aware of its randomness, and has tried not to reproduce it objectively. He has abstracted the colours...