Octber 2006 - Vol. 1

John Dunne is a noted Irish painter. He and his wife are members of Nazareth Community in Dublin, Ireland. Throughout his career as an accomplished artist, John has traveled in many countries. He has absorbed influences from the Far East and the Mediterranean. His interests include theology and its relationship to art.  He has a degree in theology. For many years he has worked on different themes which are based in literature. Two examples are childrens' games as played in Dublin during his childhood and the great legends of the Irish hero Cuchulain, interpreted by the Irish poet Thomas Kinsilla. More recently John has completed a major exhibition on the "Song of Songs" and is currently engaged with a series of ten large paintings based on the poem "Dream of Gerontius" by John Henry Newman.

With all the sacred themes which he paints, John will spend many years researching the material, exploring the theological implications of the particular story and allowing images to come to birth that will point to what lies behind them.

John explains the theme of his work, Road to Emmaus:  "I have attempted to get the viewer to ask a particular question — What effect the meeting of a stranger can have on us? We know the events that followed the meeting of the two disciples on that road, but they did not recognize the Christ until he broke the bread with them (Luke 24:13-35). Most of the works on this theme show this moment. This is my attempt to take a fresh view of this wonderful event."