16
Visual Artists' News Sheet | July – August 2021
Profile
The Art of Now SUSAN CAMPBELL REPORTS ON RECENT ACQUISITIONS TO THE NATIONAL COLLECTION AT IMMA AND CRAWFORD ART GALLERY.
Aideen Barry, not to be known, 2015, still from video; Image © Aideen Barry, commissioned by the Arts & Heritage Trust, UK, courtesy Crawford Art Gallery.
IN AN INITIATIVE designed to support the visual arts com-
munity and provide some redress for the financial fallout from COVID-19, the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and Crawford Art Gallery have received a combined total of €1 million in funding for acquisitions to the National Collection. Drawn from the budget of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, it targets the mutually compatible aims of assisting artists living and/ or working in Ireland and building the National Collection for current and future generations. Last October, when announcing what amounts to the most significant spend on the national holding in over a decade, Minister Catherine Martin acknowledged the unprecedented difficulties being experienced by artists, impacted by a lack of opportunity to make, exhibit and sell work. IMMA, which focuses on national and international modern and contemporary art, received €600,000, with the remaining €400,000 allocated to the Crawford, which has collections ranging from the eighteenth century through to the current time. The institutions were tasked to work collaboratively in realising shared goals, which included reflecting developments within contemporary practice and filling gaps in representation. Between them, 422 artworks by 70 artists were selected through what has been described as a rigorous process. These include established, emerging and traditionally marginalised
practitioners, working across a breadth of mediums. Currently celebrating its 30th birthday, IMMA’s acquisitions are guided by a policy outlined in its Strategic Collection Development Plan 2017-2022. Giving insight into the kinds of criteria applied to collecting “the art of now for the future”, it considers if works represent a key moment of achievement in an artist’s career, resonate powerfully within a given context, complement the existing collection, and/or trigger new ways of working and thinking. The museum’s purchase of 197 artworks by 31 artists represents a sizable expansion of its 3,500-strong collection. The majority categories were painting (89), print (32) and drawing (26), but sculptures, publications, installations, moving image, performance, photographic and audio works also featured. All were pre-existing artworks – as opposed to new commissions – with some dating to the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Most, however, have been created since 2000, and many address the pressing issues of the current moment. Crawford added 225 artworks by 39 artists to its existing holding of over 3,000; comprising 100 paintings, 58 photographs, 28 drawings, 14 prints, eight sculptures, four installations, one sound work, five digital films, one quilt and six embroideries. The artwork-to-artist ratio was similar across the two institutions and suggests that in many cases, multiple works were bought from individual practitioners. This dissemina-
tion of the funding arose, according to Crawford director Mary McCarthy, due to artwork-led decision-making. “Some works are series”, she explained, “and we wanted to create densities of works by some artists to give substance to the collection.” There was also consistency in the gender ratios, the majority of artists being female: 21 in the case of IMMA, alongside eight male and two non-binary artists; 24 for the Crawford, in addition to 12 males and three artists from the LGBTQI+ community. Commenting on these figures, McCarthy spoke of “a continuous need to redress imbalance”. Cork-based artist Stephen Doyle, whose practice references queer identity and culture, remarked that, through its purchase by the gallery, his painting Meditating Tongqui (2020) “will go towards documenting our existence and experiences”. In total, the Crawford sourced work by over 20 artists from or based in Cork, including Tom Climent’s mixed-media painting, Eden (2020); Stephen Brandes’s paintings, Todnauberg Puppet Set and Chat Show (both acrylic on canvas, 2020); Sara Baume’s neon text piece, So Sick and Tired (2020), originally commissioned by the National Sculpture Factory for Cork Midsummer Festival 2020; and Debbie Godsell’s screen-print-based works, Stack (2019-21) and Stray Sod (2021). Some among this cohort are affiliated to supported studios for artists with physical and/or intellectual needs.
