Mullingar artist presents ‘Portals’ exhibition of paintings
‘Portals’ an exhibition of paintings by Mullingar-based artist Neal Burns, opens at The Atrium on Thursday of this week, May 7. The work presents a series of oil on canvas paintings that invite viewers into richly imagined worlds where mythology, literature, and speculative futures converge.
Drawing on a wide range of references, Burns’s paintings bear titles such as Zarathustra, The River Styx, and Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree, the latter referencing George Orwell’s 1984.
The works function as symbolic thresholds, or ‘portals’, into layered narratives that explore the fragility of contemporary existence.
At once atmospheric and introspective, the exhibition reflects on urgent themes including the climate crisis, apocalyptic imaginaries, and the enduring influence of science fiction.
Burns’s work navigates the tension between beauty and unease, presenting landscapes that feel both otherworldly and eerily familiar.
Through luminous colour, textured surfaces, and dreamlike compositions, Portals offers a meditation on transformation, uncertainty, and the shifting boundaries between past, present, and possible futures.
The exhibition opens on May 7 at 5.30pm at The Atrium, Áras an Chontae, Mullingar.