Alan Pheelan: Headline Drawing, 2004 Ink on tracing paper 20x29cm; courtesy mother's tankstation

Del Boy and Rodney’s exasperated call of “Gordon Bennett!” has taken the name into popular parlance. Yet few are aware of James Gordon- Bennett Junior’s contribution to our modern world. His notoriety as a flamboyant playboy on the New York scene was sealed when he arrived late and very drunk to a party hosted by his prospective in-laws, only to urinate in their fireplace before shocked guests. His management of the New York tribune also revealed his nose for a sensational scoop. He funded various sporting competitions and expeditions so as to set up inside stories and exclusives for the newspaper. These included Stanley’s search for Dr Livingstone, De Long’s ill-fated Arctic journey (they all starved), and the Gordon-Bennett Motor Car Racing Trails. There are still yachting and ballooning competitions named after him. Indeed, in terms of his legacy, few people in this world can claim to have islands in Siberia named after them.

Alan Phelan’s exhibition centres on Gordon-Bennett’s legacy. Many pieces draw on various aspects of Gordon-Bennett’s activities. Fireplace, for example, is a mock-up of a grand fireplace made from wood and photocopied paper complete with a central reproduction of a urine stain on paper. The Headline drawings replicate newspaper headlines between 1871 and 1903 that refer both to major world events and to those sponsored by Gordon-Bennett.

With such a colourful figure, there is always the risk that the story will overwhelm anything that can be made of it. This appears to be the point on which the work is to be evaluated, in the sense that it is necessary to discern how Phelan works Gordon-Bennett’s legacy as a matter of making art.

Certainly, a humour and irony mark Fireplace. The mock-up recalls miniature model kits of architectural structures that can be bought in museum shops. The walls of the gallery space have various cartoon characters peeing, as if acknowledging how Gordon-Bennett’s irreverent transgression of social etiquette can be accepted if not admired for its boyish audacity. The video installation, Gordon Bennett show & shine sound off, is also marked by a curious distancing, as it records a gathering of modified-car enthusiasts for an organized awards ceremony. The crowd partakes in the peculiarly male activity of gazing into car engines and admiring the sounds of gigantic subwoofers filling the boots of the Honda Civics. The miniature five-way speakers used to relay the accompanying dance soundtrack throughout the exhibition space echo their preoccupations. If it is common to smirk at such activities, smugness is tempered by the obvious parallels with the boy-racer Gordon-Bennett, and by Phelan’s involvement in organizing the awards ceremony. From this it can be acknowledged how such activities are only one symptom of a society fuelled by the love of speed, technology, competition and sensation. Moreover, the fact that these preoccupations are often as much a feature of contemporary art as of other areas of cultural activity should not be lost on the gallery viewers.

The parallel between Phelan’s work and Gordon-Bennett’s legacy is grounded in an admiration of the playboy in his pursuit of pleasure. The show is constantly underscored by the playful quality of its making and takes delight in an ironic engagement with boyish stuff. It is also coloured by the notion that Gordon-Bennett’s gung-ho spirit managed to get things done despite his destructive hedonistic drive. In this sense, the apparent flippancy of many of these pieces shrouds the fact that they ride the waves of a serious art game. And like Gordon- Bennett, Phelan knows how to play the game well for all its worth.

Gavin Murphy is a lecturer in Art History and Critical Theory at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.