ARTIST STATEMENT
— SPOKEN STATE is a series of large-scale acrylic-on-aluminium flag paintings in which each national flag is reconstructed word by word from a landmark political speech delivered at that nation's defining moment. At distance, the viewer sees flags. As they approach, the flags dissolve into words — the speeches that shaped nations when everything hung in the balance. Language doesn't describe nations. It constitutes them. De Gaulle spoke France into resistance. Gandhi spoke India into independence. Carney spoke Canada's character at a turning point in 2026. These aren't rhetorical flourishes — they're the moments nations revealed their deepest selves. Moving between works, a dialogue emerges: thematic echoes and contrasts across continents and centuries. The series operates through accumulation and resonance. Each completed work reframes all the others. Geographic breadth, thematic pairing, historical range compound the argument. Twenty-four works now spanning six continents and more than a century. The series continues as defining moments unfold across generations. Mc Ginty is from Achill, a place on the edge of Europe. That peripheral vantage gives clarity about what nations truly are when stripped back to their essential voice. His work comes from that same edge. Progress Eight works are completed; sixteen are in production through 2027. — Gary McGinty Visual Artist · Spoken State spokenstate.com · garymcginty.com
BIOGRAPHY
Gary McGinty is an Irish visual artist from Achill Island, Co. Mayo. He studied architecture at DIT Dublin and subsequently worked for over twenty years as an art director in international film — credits include Michael Collins, The Last Duel (dir. Ridley Scott), Wednesday (Netflix), Disenchanted (Disney), and Foundation (Apple TV+). He was nominated for an Art Directors Guild Award in 2026.
His architectural training — spatial thinking, material precision, the relationship between structure and meaning — underpins the formal logic of Spoken State. The series is his first sustained fine art body of work.
Spoken State has been featured in the Irish Independent and on RTÉ Radio 1. Work from the series was shown at Artevolve at the RDS, Dublin. The series is in active development. He is based in Dublin, Ireland.
Spoken State, Artevolve, RDS Dublin, March 2026