Genesis presents a dynamic evolution of Kenneth’s longstanding engagement with the bogs of Connemara. In this vibrant landscape, Kenneth reinterprets familiar territory through the lens of his later, more experimental palette, infusing the scene with electric hues reminiscent of his dystopian works, while grounding it in the structure and motifs of his earlier bog paintings.

The composition recalls the vast, open plains and reflective pools that stretch across the peatlands near his Ballinaboy Studio. But here, Kenneth allows the colour to sing, shards of violet, amber, magenta and lime green slice across the canvas, dissolving the boundary between land and atmosphere. There is nothing static in this painting. Everything vibrates with motion, as if refracted through the damp air that defines this corner of western Ireland.

The soft, diffused light of Connemara, a result of water in every state, from mist to bog to sea, becomes the very medium of the work. Light scatters, refracts and amplifies the hues Kenneth perceives so keenly. In this landscape of perpetual moisture, colours behave differently: they don’t sit still, they shimmer and shift. For Kenneth, who has always seen intensity where others might only glimpse suggestion, this natural phenomenon becomes irresistible.

And yet, beneath the vivid surface lies something older, quieter. The painting speaks to a primordial version of this place, a time before cultivation, before human trace. This spiritual presence is never explicit, but it pulses just beneath the colour. Kenneth’s layered textures suggest not only depth of field, but depth of time. In Genesis, he conjures a vision of the land as it once was, breathing freely and alive with potential. It is both a beginning and a warning: that nature, long subdued, retains the power to reassert its spirit when we least expect it.