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Dalkey Castle, 25—29 April, 2012. 1
Consider the Lobster This is Diana Kingston’s first solo exhibition since her much lauded show in the OSB Gallery in 2006. Kingston has never stood still as an artist. While she is not one for radical changes in direction you can detect a gradual metamorphosis in style over the decades. These changes encompass both her subject matter and her technique. Kingston’s early shows in the Tom Caldwell Gallery in the Seventies were rigorously photorealistic, often featuring self-portraits along with an occasional excursion into trompe l’oeil. She mainly used oil and pencil and the work had a tight graphical feel to it. It was light, well executed and often witty. In the subsequent decades she began to look outwards to the natural world for her subject matter and the work became richer and more expressive. She became a beachcomber gathering the detritus of the seashore: crab claws, shells, feathers, and stones. She subjected these items to minute scrutiny – homing in on specific details. The resultant works often had a mysterious abstract feel to them, as their source was often not immediately evident. In this exhibition we find evidence again that Kingston is still evolving as an artist. Just as that exhibition in Enniskerry in 2006
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demonstrated a change in direction from these earlier shows in the Tom Caldwell Gallery so this one in Dalkey Castle heralds a further evolution. She has taken a few steps back from her subject matter to give us a new less ambiguous view of the world of nature. The lushly hued mackerel and lobsters have replaced the oftendesiccated objects found by the seashore. The mackerel are depicted in all their glory: blue, turquoise, and slate grey with hints of ochre, lime and purple. There are suggestions of their lost habitat the sea in the swirls of gesso that surround them. Their poignant and seemingly resigned appearance contrasts with the malign and purposeful lobster who seem to be emerging for mischief from some dark unfathom’d cave. These works are rooted in Kingston’s local environment. Her home in Dalkey is not far from Bullock Harbour famous for its fish and its Cistercians. Its pier has been a source of inspiration for her as far back as the Eighties when she based her large crustacean paintings on the discarded crab claws she picked up there. More recently, with the friendly assistance of the local fishermen, she turned her attention to lobster. They would hold them up for the scrutiny of her camera
and send her off enthused with painterly possibilities. The Coal Harbour Pier in Dún Laoghaire was another rich source of inspiration for the artist. Of the multitude of fish to be found in the little shop at the end of the pier the modest mackerel seemed the most beautiful and exotic. The women in the shop grew used to her visits and would pull their wares out into the sunshine all the better to display the gorgeous colours. These encounters were the genesis of three years work. These mackerel, symbols of fertility and fecundity, are indubitably dead. They have a tragic mien. The eyes stare reproachfully at the viewer in a memento mori fashion. But paradoxically the paintings are very much alive - the energy and harmony of the compositions transcend the banality of the fishes fate. They are shown in vibrant tableaux all glistening colour and intricate pattern. And if the mackerel are dead, the lobsters are thrillingly alive and malevolent – giant sea spiders lumbering with intent.
lamented David Foster Wallace published in 2005. The title essay was a beady-eyed but humorous reflection on the farrago that is the annual Maine lobster festival. Unlike the Maine event, no lobsters were harmed in the making of this exhibition. So consider the lobster but have a good look at the mackerel as well. John P. O’Sullivan Dalkey, 2012.
The title of this exhibition is shamelessly filched from a book of essays by the late and very much
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Lobster 5 Mixed media on paper, 26 x 26 cm
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Mackerel 9 Oil, gesso and aquarelle on board, 50 x 38 cm
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Mackerel 8 Oil, gesso and aquarelle on board, 50 x 45 cm
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Lobster 6 Mixed media on paper, 26 x 26 cm
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Mackerel Oil, gesso and paper on board, 30 x 30 cm
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Salmon 2 Oil, gesso and paper on board, 30 x 30 cm
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Lobster 2 Oil, gesso and paper on board, 48 x 48 cm
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Lobster 1 Oil, gesso and paper on board, 48 x 48 cm
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Lobster 3 Oil, gesso and paper on board, 30 x 30 cm
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Mackerel 14 Oil, gesso and paper on board, 30 x 30 cm
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Mackerel 5 Oil on board (diptych), 23 x 120 cm
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Mackerel 11 Oil and gesso on board, 75 x 55 cm
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Diana Kingston 4, Saval Park Crescent Dalkey Co. Dublin 01 2848073 dianadalkey@gmail.com dianakingstonartist.com
Solo Exhibitions 2006 O’Sullivan Bewick Gallery, Enniskerry. 2004 Metatron Gallery, Enniskerry. 2002 Vangard Gallery, Cork. 1992 Jeffers Gallery, Kinsale, Co.Cork. 1988 Rathaus, Stuttgart, Germany 1984 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin. 1981 Tom Caldwell Gallery, Dublin.
Group Exhibitions 2008 Vangard Gallery, Cork. 2002 Curator & Exhibitor Dalkey Art Festival. 2000, 99, 97, 93, 90, 89, 88, 84, 83, 82 RHA Annual Exhibition, Dublin. 1996, 89, 83 Oireachtas, Dublin. 1995 Lavitt’s Quay Gallery, Cork. 1990 Riverrun Gallery, Dublin. 1989 Taylor Gallery, Dublin. 1986 Redec Centre, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1985 Cork Art Now (CAN). 1984 Claremorris Arts Festival. 1983 Independent Artists. 1983, 80, 79, 78 Irish Exhibition of Living Art, Dublin. 1981 Six Women Artists, Galway Arts Festival. 1980 Exposure, Dublin.
Collections • • • • • •
AIB Office of Public Works Coopers and Lybrand IONA Technologies O’Donovan Stewart Contemporary Irish Arts Society
Acknowledgements Essay: John O’Sullivan Photography: Paddy Benson Design: JMC Creative Print: TMC Ireland
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