Aidan Hickey's darkly gothic portrait of Bram Stoker. (Click on image to enlarge).
GIVEN that the life is being sucked out of the Irish economy it is not inappropriate that Dublin should celebrate a bloodsucking celebrity this month. An oil portrait of Dracula creator Bram Stoker has been specially commissioned for the 134th exhibition of the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club.
The reason has nothing to do with Ireland’s dire financial straits. A Dubliner, Bram Stoker was in 1874 one of 12 founder members of the Dublin Sketching Club, which later expanded to include painting. This year the club has chosen to mark the centenary of Stoker’s death with a portrait by Aidan Hickey.
One of Ireland’s largest group shows the exhibition runs at Dun Laoghaire Co. Hall from April 16-21. It will feature work by more than 80 artists, with diversity in style, treatment and subject. Nearly 300 works, including oil and watercolour paintings, pastels, lithographs, etchings and drawings, will be on offer. Here is a small selection (click on any image to enlarge it):
‘The Hook Peninsula’ by Tomas King.
‘Rosslare’ by Margaret Kent.
‘Happy Fields’ by Michael Gemmell.
‘Cherries with Green Vase’ by Peter Dee.
Red Boats, Coliemore Harbour’, by Walter Bernardini.