C103
Review
Stars at Noon
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Clive Murphy: installation shot, Stars at Noon;
courtesy Triskel Arts Centre
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The invite for this exhibition proffered
the view that the artwork would challenge "received assumptions
of what art should be." Maybe I'm becoming a bit cynical but
the alarm bells started to ring at this statement - particularly
in the wake of Crawford Open 3. In ways Stars at
Noon was more of the same, but perhaps due to its manageable
scale, I felt more of a connection.
The five artists from Cork and Belfast
presented a united front, and it was necessary to read the
profile text just to see who did what. This certainly drew
you into the work. Not that it was totally necessary for the
interactive nature of Helen Sharp's installation, which encouraged
the viewer to manipulate a control panel to explore the relationship
between perception and semantics. Deirdre McKenna's use of
humble DIY materials in her cut-out-construction landscape
also required direct participation as a selected spot offered
optimal viewing for the re-jigged perspective.
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Helen Sharp,
Casual realism, part II, installation shot;
courtesy Triskel Arts Centre
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Deirdre McKenna, From time to time
(to go), installation shot; courtesy the artist
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Clive Murphy painted a butterfly
onto the back wall of the gallery and there was an innocent
charm and nostalgia to the piece. Michael O'Boyle's approach
to paint had a similarly precise feel to it as small colour
squares were painted onto wooden pallets, creating an optical
mosaic. While Ursula Burke's video projection Josie
featured the artist using interview-type footage of her parents.
In ways it was the odd-one-out, as the other work seemed to
have a more idiosyncratic playfulness.
Mark Ewart is a part-time
lecturer at the Crawford College of Art and Design; he is
also an art teacher and writer based in Cork.
Stars at Noon, Triskel Arts
Centre, Cork, January/February 2003
