antiquesandartireland.com

Model aeroplanes are a feature of Brian Bourke’s work now on show at Taylor Galleries.

Model Aeroplanes over Belmont, the show by Brian Bourke at Taylor Galleries, Kildare St., Dublin, features a series of large scale paintings and smaller mixed media works on paper. The new work in this show was inspired by time spent in Belmont, the village in Co. Offaly that is home to the 18th century Belmont Water Mill.

The mill, which produced flour, pinhead oatmeal and porridge oats for almost 130 years, is now divided into residential artists studios and a family home. Small planes being flown over the landscape by the local model aeroplane club drew the attention of the artist and feature prominently in his newest work.
Born in Dublin in 1936 Brian Bourke studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and St. Martin’s School of Art, London. He is based in Galway. HIs work is in public and private collections, he is a member of Aosdána and an honorary member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. The show at Taylor runs until March 23.

Male bather by Helen Walsh.

October Leaves by Sharon McCarthy.

Painter Sharon McCarthy and sculptor Helen Walsh joined forces for an exhibition entitled Colour & Creation at Skylight Gallery at Bandon in west Cork. After a stint in Australia where she worked on sets and props for film, tv and advertising Helen Walsh set up a studio in west Cork in 2009 and has completed a number of private commissions since then. Her work was included in the Sculpture in Context exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin in 2012.
Sharon McCarthy is a self taught artist who has worked in graphic design, brochure layout, newspaper advertising and sign writing. The graphic influence is apparent in her bright, vibrant and colourful works, greatly influenced by the wild flowers and woodlands of her girlhood in west Cork.

Francis Bacon,Untitled (Seated Figure on a Dappled Carpet), c.1966, oil on canvas, 198 x 147 cm, Reg no. 1973, © The Estate of Francis Bacon and DACS, Collection Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.

AN opportunity to see the work of Francis Bacon alongside the diverse practices of 20 contemporary Irish artists has arisen at BOZAR in Brussels.  Changing States is part of the cultural programme marking Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union. It presents post-2000 work in painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video-art and new media. Among featured artists are Orla Barry, Gerard Byrne, Nina Canell, Dorothy Cross, Willie Doherty, Fergus Feehily, John Gerrard, Patrick Graham, Katie Holten, Brian Maguire, Alice Maher, Martin & Hobbs, Niamh McCann, William McKeown, Richard Mosse, Gavin Murphy, Alan Phelan, Garrett Phelan, Eva Rothschild and Paul Seawright.

The show is presented alongside an exhibition of materials and unfinished paintings from the studio of Francis Bacon (in 1998 Francis Bacon’s studio in London was presented by John Edwards to Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane).  This website has long believed that Irish contemporary art is insufficiently recognised.  In part this stems from the fact that Ireland is such a small country. This is not the only reason. The promotional effort Ireland makes on behalf of its best contemporary artists is not enough. Those Irish artists with international recognition tend to have earned it with little state support and mostly by leaving the country. We need more shows along the lines of this exhibition in Brussels, which runs until May 19.

William Crozier (1930-2011) ‘Flanders Fields’, 1962 © Estate of William Crozier © NGI (Click on image to enlarge it).

William Crozier’s Flanders Fields (1962) – one of the most recent acquisitions at National Gallery of Ireland – goes on view today in the Irish galleries of the Millennium Wing. Flander’s Fields is an animated composition of an isolated naked figure crouching and appears engulfed by a whirlwind of colour. It represents a sense of mortality and vulnerability, a universal quality that links it with other works in the collection, most notably, Jack B. Yeats’s Grief and Louis le Brocquy’s A Family. Glasgow-born Crozier (1930-2011) became an Irish citizen in 1973 and divided his time between Hampshire and Kilcoe in West Cork. He was a prominent figure in the London art world in the 1950’s and 1960’s and exhibited with, among others, David Hockney and Francis Bacon.
Sean Rainbird, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland said: “Flander’s Fields is a major work in the artist’s oeuvre of the early 1960’s and will take its place among a significant number of works of art which have been recently added to the collection. They include Colin Davidson’s portrait of the poet and anthologist, Michael Longley and Jacob Epstein’s bronze head of the eminent physician, Dr. Solomons Snr. These are works of the highest quality and we look forward to displaying more of them over the course of 2013.”
Among other recent acquisitions are: William Conor (1881-1968) Girl with Buckets, 1950’s; Sean Keating (1889-1977) Homage to Jimmy and Frans (Portrait of Jimmy O’Dea), 1963: Harry Aaron Kernoff (1920-1974) Miss Joan Wall (1920-2011), 1941: Jackie Nickerson (b.1960) Seamus Heaney (b. 1939), Poet, Playwright, Translator, Nobel Laureate, 2007: Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) Portrait of a Man, possibly Paul Sérusier, 1895; Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903) In the Life Class, 1894; Walter Frederick Osborne (1859-1903) Portrait of Mrs Mary Louise (May) Gwynn (d.1941), c.1903; Edward James Rogers (1872-1938) Sylvia, c. 1929 and AE [George Russell] (1867-1935) Fairies in a Wood.

THE Lavit Gallery, home of Cork Arts Society, celebrates its 50th anniversary today with an exhibition by artists who have shown there.  The Lavit 50 Years On features work by John Behan, Liam Belton, Ana Duncan, James English, Mike Fitzharris, Tim Goulding, Arthur Maderson, Eilis O’ Connell, Michael Quane, Thomas Ryan and Neil Shawcross and Robert Ballagh. Plans for forthcoming exhibitions in 2013 include Gallery Friends in cooperation with the Taylor and Solomon Galleries in Dublin and the Cauldwell Gallery in Belfast.  Set up by artists to promote an interest in the arts in Cork it shows the work of over 200 artists. Here is a small selection from the show, which runs until March 16.

John Behan RHA, Coracle.

Arthur Maderson – In a glancing light – Tallow Horse Fair.

Mike Fitzharris, La Mesa del Torero.

Robert Ballagh – Thomas Russell.

Michael Quane Dayrocker – Kilkenny marble.