Holten Venice-bound / Auction results / Quinn for NGI / Critical Voices back (October 14, 2002)

Katie Holten: 137.5 degrees installation shot at Temple Bar Gallery and Studioes; courtesy TBG&S

Holten for Venice

Katie Holten has been chosen by Venice commissioner Valerie Connor (see here) to be the Republic's representative at next year's Venice Biennale. Traditionally the honour has gone to an established artist - Siobhán Hapaska, Grace Weir, Anne Tallentire, Kathy Prendergast, Shane Cullen, Jaki Irvine, Alastair MacLennan, Dorothy Cross, Willie Doherty, Patrick Scott, Louis le Brocquy - so it is exceptional to see an artist who is still closer to the start of her career heading to Venice. Holten, however, has been extremely prolific since graduating from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, in 1998. Her usually very site-specific approach should also be very suited to the challenge posed by the 'Irish pavilion' in Venice, which is in the Scuola San Pasquale near Giardini where the main pavilions are.

The Biennale opens to the public on June 15, 2003. Holten's AIB Prize 2002 will be in the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, next year, but her current show can still be seen in Temple Bar Gallery until October 19 (more here). That show will be reviewed in the forthcoming issue of CIRCA Art Magazine. You can read previous reviews of Holten's work here; you can find previous reports from Venice here (1, 2, 3, 4).

According to Temple Bar Gallery:

From under the hammer

Last month we gave a brief summary of some contemporary artists whose work was to be featured in Whyte's sale of Irish art on the 17^th of September (click here). The results of the auction have now been published and while most of the lots we highlighted sold within their guide prices, few exceeded them. Furthermore, a number fell below or, as in the case of Brian Ferran's Táin Theme X, failed to sell at all. Charles Harper's Head realised only 950 euro as opposed to the estimated 1,200-1,500 euro and the same artist's Bandaged Heads, set at 4,500-5,000 euro, remained unsold. These disappointments aside, contemporary artists did generally enjoy success though all were eclipsed by that of Louis le Brocquy. Le Brocquy was well represented in the sale and most of his works exceeded their guide prices, works such as The Táin and Six Masks for the Playboy of the Western World doubling them. The artist's most highly priced work Orange (estimated at 40,000-60,000 euro) did not sell and this continues a trend set in previous auctions. However, paintings with a similarly high guide price by other artists such as Colin Middleton and Gerard Dillon also suffered the same fate.

Whyte's are now accepting for their next Irish art sale on the 19^th of November.

Lochlann Quinn gets another chair

Lochlann Quinn, head of AIB and the man behind the now-defunct Glen Dimplex Awards, has been appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Gallery of Ireland.

Critical voices to sing again

The first Critical Voices scheme, under the aegis of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, was a mixed bag but certainly very successful in parts. The scheme is back, and its new Curator, Brian Hand, has put out a call for proposals and suggestions. You can read the full text here; to excerpt one part:

The aim of Critical Voices will be to facilitate and encourage the arts sector, academia and the media nationwide to provide considered, critical reflections on the arts and their context to audiences in Ireland and beyond by inviting prominent writers, artists and intellectuals to visit Ireland during 2003. As curator, I am particularly keen to involve the public more actively in the languages of the arts and to engage the Arts Council in new partnerships with the arts sector.