{"id":375026,"date":"2025-12-28T03:06:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T03:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375026\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T03:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T03:06:12","slug":"artists-first-belfast-exhibition-in-more-than-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375026\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist’s first Belfast exhibition in more than 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Page Ireland correspondent, BBC News <\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Oliver Jeffers Disasters and Interventions is being exhibited at the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University<\/p>\n

The artist and author Oliver Jeffers is holding his first exhibition in his home city of Belfast for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

In that time, he has become one of the biggest figures in children’s literature \u2013 with his books selling eighteen million copies.<\/p>\n

Stories such as Lost and Found, How to Catch a Star, and Here We Are have delighted, intrigued and fascinated families around the world.<\/p>\n

The collection of works called Disasters and Interventions transforms calmness into calamity.<\/p>\n

Jeffers has added his own images into old pictures \u2013 with the result that tranquil landscapes become catastrophic.<\/p>\n

An oil tanker is upended in a lake, leaving a slick in the previously pristine water.<\/p>\n

An airship crashes into the ocean with three golfers apparently oblivious as they hole out on a seaside course.<\/p>\n

An isolated house on a hill is struck by lightning.<\/p>\n

When I ask the artist where the idea “came out of”, he replies: “Literally \u2013 the bin.”<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Oliver Jeffers’ project started with a “discarded print” in Chinatown, New York<\/p>\n

The project began when he saw a “discarded old print” in Chinatown in New York.<\/p>\n

“I thought it looked amazing, even though it was decayed and dilapidated.<\/p>\n

“I thought \u2013 I’ll bring it back to the studio and paint something into it.<\/p>\n

“That became a kind of game that I played with myself.<\/p>\n

“After a while, I realise that I seemed to be painting disaster scenes into all of these.”<\/p>\n

He said the outcome “had to be funny, but not in a laugh-out-loud kind of way \u2013 more of a smile in the mind”.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on how the works came together over 14 years, he said it was “very reactionary” and speaks of “instability in the world”.<\/p>\n

“The idea is that it provokes thought \u2013 even though there’s a lot of tragedy and disaster, it doesn’t mean it isn’t a good time to be alive.”<\/p>\n

The artist has recently returned to live in Northern Ireland, after living in the US for some years, and said he “absolutely loves being back”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The collection of works is called “Disasters and Interventions”<\/p>\n

When he was growing up in Belfast, he said he knew he wanted to be an artist “pretty early on”.<\/p>\n

“I think I was 15 when a careers’ adviser who came into my school said art college might be an option to me.<\/p>\n

“It was the first time I realised \u2013 wow, you can have a job drawing pictures.”<\/p>\n

The books came “way later on”.<\/p>\n

“I realised that so much of the art I was making was about storytelling \u2013 and telling stories comes so naturally in this part of the world.<\/p>\n

“So much of it is empathy, and understanding your audience.”<\/p>\n

He explained: “I still remember my world view as a child.<\/p>\n

“All kids intuitively pick up crayons, make marks, play make believe.<\/p>\n

“We are innately born with that ability \u2013 it’s just a matter of retaining it as you grow older.<\/p>\n

“It’s not that I discovered something \u2013 I re-remembered something.”<\/p>\n

‘Being naturally yourself’<\/p>\n

Asked how he reflected on the 21 years since his first book, How to Catch a Star, was published \u2013 Jeffers said: “It can be a bit overwhelming to realise the role these books have played in people’s lives.<\/p>\n

“I try not to look backwards, and keep myself interested in moving forwards \u2013 but it does feel a bit surreal.<\/p>\n

“I think art is one of the few industries where the more selfish you are, the more generous you are.<\/p>\n

“If you’re trying to assume what people want and then deliver that, you end up with a repeat of the last big thing, which is never what the next big thing will be.<\/p>\n

“Being naturally yourself is what works.”<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The red rocket which appeared in How to Catch a Star can be seen in the work called Down on the Range<\/p>\n

Visitors to the exhibition at the Naughton Gallery at Queen’s University will spot a familiar red rocket \u2013 which first appeared in How to Catch a Star.<\/p>\n

It’s been painted into a picture from a magazine, in a work called Down on the Range.<\/p>\n

The rocket has crashed beside a lake, with snow-dusted mountains and a few buffalo in the background.<\/p>\n

The reflection of the spaceship in the still water is particularly striking.<\/p>\n

Jeffers explained that some of the approach is about putting “bright colours on top of old, dull, worn-away colours”.<\/p>\n

“Because of how blue and white and yellow it is \u2013 something bright, fluorescent and red would work.<\/p>\n

“So then my mind automatically goes to the rocket.<\/p>\n

“The joy and the fun was in painting the rocket and making the light source was true and correct so it looked like it was really in the scene – and then playing about with the reflection as well.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lost At Snow depicts the Titanic which was built in Belfast<\/p>\n

Several works feature the most famous, and disastrous, ship to be built in Belfast.<\/p>\n

But instead of disappearing beneath the Atlantic waves \u2013 the Titanic is depicted sinking in a desert, a glen, and other non-maritime landscapes.<\/p>\n

Images associated with what Jeffers described as “a city of storytellers” are prominent in the exhibition.<\/p>\n

Since moving back to Northern Ireland, Jeffers has particularly valued the “slowness and sense of community”.<\/p>\n

“We don’t realise the importance of it,” he says.<\/p>\n

“It’s only with coming back, having experienced the rat race at full tilt elsewhere, that I realise this is what I want, for my family and myself.<\/p>\n

“There are a lot of really talented artists and storytellers coming through the ranks in Northern Ireland \u2013 it’s good to be here and encourage people.”<\/p>\n

Jeffers said he planned to continue to “enjoy the work I make, and let it come naturally”.<\/p>\n

“That will involve more books, more art, and staying still and observing the world and those around me,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Page Ireland correspondent, BBC News BBC Oliver Jeffers Disasters and Interventions is being exhibited at the Naughton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-375026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}