Exhibition Roundup

Regional & International

Artlink ‘Silent Spring’ was a much anticipated solo exhibition by Geraldine Timlin, a well-known Buncrana-based artist who has a long association with Artlink, working with the founders in the early days, designing and delivering collaborative community-based arts projects. Her artistic practice explores aspects of deep ecology and our interconnectedness with the natural environment. She uses photography and film as tools in her creative investigation of environment and space, building a visual narrative of place and being. This exhibition was on display from 12 November to 5 December. artlink.ie

Ballina Arts Centre In the exhibition ‘I N T E R T W I N E’, Dutch artist, Hanneke Francken, showed works from the last ten years. Francken’s drawings often look like visions of an almost divine conviction. She draws the landscape very delicately, sometimes prominently in trees, sometimes in the background, or with birds tumbling from the sky, sometimes with deformations of dead animals and vegetation, which by natural processes, can flow together as a whole. The exhibition was curated by Arno Kramer and presented from 16 October to 27 November.

Butler Gallery Visitors to Ciarán Murphy’s exhibition, ‘Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily’, encounter an unsettling array of things: strange landscapes, insects, birds, body parts, letters, architectural features and abstract shapes. Objects seem in varying states of flux. The exhibition reflects the artists long standing attempts to grapple with a contemporary world that is completely saturated with images that embody the paradoxical status of being both completely over-bearing, yet irresistible, both entrancing and anxiety provoking. The exhibition runs until 9 January.

Centre Culturel Irlandais Well-known as a screenwriter and filmmaker, Conor Horgan is also one of Ireland’s great portrait photographers, who encapsulates the singularity of ordinary folk, performers and world leaders alike. Following his residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in 2017, Conor based himself in Paris for the next three years capturing the city and its inhabitants. CCI commissioned him to return regularly to create a suite of portraits of our artists in residence. This body of work was exhibited on CCI’s main historic staircase from 12 to 30 November.

Crawford Art Gallery 2021 is the centenary of Patrick Scott (1921- 2014), one of Ireland’s most celebrated and individual abstract artists. In presenting five works from the collection, this exhibition did not attempt a complete retrospective of Scott’s oeuvre but rather offer meditations from five different decades of his long career. Early on, Scott was associated with the White Stag Group and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art (IELA). His paintings from this period embraced a naïve style but his later compositions often incorporated geometry and impeccable design. Displayed from 2 October to 5 December. crawfordartgallery.ie

Excel Gallery ‘The Erlish Tide’ is a major new exhibition by Kevin Mooney, commissioned by the Excel Gallery, Tipperary. It is the artist’s first solo show since 2019 and includes large scale paintings informed by his research into the history, mythology and folklore of Samhain and Halloween. The work explores the idea of the festival as cultural coloniser. Kevin Mooney’s previous research around the migration of Irish people, and its relationship with a “lost” Irish art history, has also been important in developing the work. Displayed from 30 October to 27 November.

Kenmare Butter Market The initial idea of Michael Hales’ ‘Fragmented Mind’ focused on the relationship between reality and memory, specifically of places. With the onset of COVID-19 the choice of visiting places was no longer available. The work became based entirely on fragmented memories. The paintings evolved through a process of juxtaposition, by placing various images, colours and shapes which gave the suggestion of places. The work attempts to understand the relationship between being somewhere and reminiscing about previous visits. Displayed from 5 to 26 November.

National Sculpture Factory National Sculpture Factory commissioned Eimear Walshe to create a new neon public artwork The Land for the People, presented as part of Cork Midsummer Festival 2021. The Land for the People, a temporary neon sculpture, was placed on the front facade of the National Sculpture Factory building, lighting up nightly between the summer and winter solstices from 21 June to 21 December. This new work draws on Eimear’s research in nineteenth and early twentieth-century land contestation in Ireland, and its significance in the contemporary era.

Signal Arts Centre ‘Akademiska Stilleben’ is a solo exhibition of still-life and cast paintings by Wicklow artist, Nicholas Benedict Robinson. The paintings were made with specific consideration to formal elements of the academic style, such as the effect of light and space on form. This is Robinson’s second show at Signal Arts Centre. Robinson is a prize-winning, Florence Academy of Art graduate, who has previously exhibited in association with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal Society of Oil Painters, and the Hennessy Zurich Portrait Prize. Displayed from 22 November to 5 December. signalartscentre.ie

Solstice Arts Centre ‘SURVEYOR’ serves to support, value, and encourage Meath artists in the development of their practices and creative careers. The exhibition presents an overview of contemporary visual arts practice throughout the county. ‘SUR- VEYOR’ 2021 was curated by Aisling Prior and this year there were submissions by almost 100 artists, 52 of whom were curated for the show. Some of the artists showing are self-taught, some have never had their work in an exhibition before, some are recent graduates with great potential, while others are more established. Displayed from 20 November to 23 December. solsticeartscentre.ie

The Dock A recent group exhibition at The Dock brought together the work of three artists: Jackie McKenna, Bassam Al-Sabah, and Atoosa Pour Hosseini. The creative practice of these artists covers a wide range of artforms, such as sculpture, film and digital animation. The three artists were commissioned by The Dock for the 2020 series of commissions. Although the artists live and work in Ireland, the scope of their individual practices is universal, informed by themes of displacement, perceptions of reality, memory, nostalgia and identity. Displayed from 11 September to 27 November. thedock.ie

Void Gallery The exhibition, ‘The Shrinking Universe’ by Eva Rothschild, marks the final stage of the Ireland at Venice 2019 National Tour. ‘The Shrinking Universe’ was the national representation of Ireland at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2019, curated by Void’s Director, Mary Cremin. Rothschild’s practice demonstrates an awareness of the modernist tradition while maintaining its own distinctive sculptural language. The exhibition opened on 11 November, and continues until 15 January 2022. Void also hosted a conversation between Mary Cremin and Eva Rothschild. derryvoid.com

‘SURVEYOR’, group show, installation view, 2021; image by and courtesy of Solstice Arts Centre.

Eva Rothschild, Amphi, 2019, resin, spray paint, wood, 260 x 600 x 380 cm, dimensions variable; photo by Robert Glowacki, courtesy of Void Gallery.