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Article
Last
November, the Irish Times asked, "has the successful economy
made life easier for artists?" It is a difficult question to
judge. Having more money in the economy is good for artists if it
reaches them through the various channels of awards, grants, commissions,
bursaries, galleries and purchases. On the other hand, the negative
effects of economic success increase with inflating costs of living.
With apartments and offices rising from every available gap in Dublin's
skyline, studios and accommodation are harder and harder to find.
A public with
more money in their pockets can only be of benefit to artists if
they are actually spending it on art, but out and about in January
it is tempting to conclude that a high percentage of the available
loot is going on 01 D cars, not contemporary art. Then again, to
balance the argument, the signs are nonetheless there of a strengthening
art market in Dublin. New galleries have been steadily opening,
and more importantly, remaining open.
|
Brian
Garvey; Back II; courtsey Paul Kane Gallery |
|
On South William
Street, the Paul Kane gallery was showing its Winter Gallery
Show with plenty of red dots alongside a mixture of work that
included stunning pieces by Brian Garvey, Megan Eustace, Deirdre
O'Brien, and Colin Crotty. Brian Garvey's Back II was a feast
of flesh, the skin tones loving, affectionate and intimately rendered
in oil. Close up on canvas the upper body, seen from behind, stood
against a soft green background, drawing one into a relationship
with the figure while at the same time closing off the possibility
of contact as the aspect was turned away.
Megan Eustace's
work was beautiful too and more intriguing still. In Threshold,
small splashes of colour like brown and pink raindrops fell to mark
parchment-like paper. A waxed lower third contained scored markings
of lines and curves. The abstract composition was held together
by a strong mastery of drawing. It enclosed code, half hidden and
hinting at the idea of subliminal communications, yet the code was
alien, esoteric, unbreakable to the uninitiated. Eustace is an identical
twin and the spaces and shapes in her work hint at and describe
that relationship of identity and separation. She has a solo show
at the Paul Kane Gallery in May; well worth watching.
Strong too
were Aidan Bradley''s green and brown hued views of Achill. Atmospheric
and semi abstract landscapes in oil, they well evoked the changing
faces of that wild and beautiful place.
The Art
Store is also on South William Street, a couple of doors up
from Paul Kane. It is similar in concept to Barcelona's Supermarcart.
Here, artworks are displayed in a series of racks to flick through,
like LPs in a vinyl record store, on the floor and also, in a series
of exhibitions, on the walls. In the Supermercart, the emphasis
is very much on the 'purchasability' of art and here the same is
true. Run by Conor Firth, the Art Store has been open for
almost two years but has, according to Firth, really taken off since
September. The carpeting, armchairs, day-light lighting and deliberately
not-white walls are all designed to attract a public who might otherwise
be intimidated. This is not to say that the Art Store 'dumbs down';
last year, they showed Sequences, an exhibition of prints
from New York including work by Ilya Kabakov, Christo and Jeanne-Claude,
Joseph Kosuth and Sol Lewitt.
Pre-Christmas,
the exhibition New Works was curated in association with
artifact (www.artifact.ie), a chance to see ArtHouse's
virtual works in the flesh. Mark Demsteader, Pam Harris, Joanna
Kidney, Rachel Kierans and Marty Walsh all had pieces on the walls
above the racks. Meanwhile a steady stream of people were coming
in, and getting their chequebooks out. It was a mixed show. Rachel
Kierans exhibited geometrical oils on board. Blues and maroons,
purples, greys and greens developed depth with shapes that drew
in the eye, and once in, one could discern the ebb and flow of paint,
wild movements of markings all contained within the spaces' forms.
Marty Walsh's
works were heavier, black-framed affairs. Landscapes lit up with
brilliant greens and electric blues, anchored with shadow and with
shapes deliberately simple. Walsh has a strong idea of light and
works the paint well, but these were not subtle images and called
nothing so much to mind as Balthus going on an acid trip, but leaving
the family behind. Hanging opposite, Mark Demsteader had four pieces,
close-up images of heads in brown, orange and rust colours. Profiles
leaning forward and into shadow, they won the struggle for impact
with Walsh's works, but only just.
Specialising
exclusively in print, the Lemonstreet Gallery off Grafton
Street has been open since last March. Again, the emphasis is on
art you can buy, but their aim is also to maintain and enhance the
image of art in Ireland through the work on show. The work of around
fifty artists is on view with the images displayed on ingenious
sliding glass panels against the walls and centrally in the small
space. The selection changes during the year, sometimes with an
opening, but also with a gradual phasing in or out of the prints.
The Lemonstreet Gallery shows prints by Irish and international
artists including Elizabeth Blackadder, Michael Coleman, William
Crozier, Gráinne Cuffe, Joy Gerrard, Julian Opie, Ana Maria Pacheco
and Adrian Wiszniewski. The staff are knowledgeable and friendly
and, shedding prejudices about art that is easy to like and buy,
it is a wonderful place to browse.
| Clea
Van Der Grijn; Untitled 3, 76 x 152cm; Photo Stuart Smith;
Cross Gallery |
Again with an emphasis
on a domestic rather than 'white space' setting, Cross Gallery
has been open in Francis Street for just over a year. Interestingly,
Clea van der Grijn's Salto Angel was an exhibition that would
have worked equally well (and possibly better in the case of some
of the images) in a sparer space. Based on a trip to Salto Angel,
or Angel Falls in Venezuela, van der Grijn has created paintings
which capture the dramatic meeting of the powerful water with earth
and air. In the front part of the gallery, framed works on paper
drew out in dark blues the patterns of water rushing against rock.
Three small triptychs called to mind through their colours the mysterious
movements of water through darkness. In the central area, long panoramic
paintings showed vistas of the interplay of shape and shade which
drew you on to the drama of the back room. And it was here that
one might have wished for a wider brighter space to adequately frame
the drama of these images. Equally a development from, and a contrast
to van der Grin's previous series of paintings, the calm, meditative,
underwater blues of deep-water diving, these large canvases were
a rush of movement and hue. Alive with kinetic energy and contrast,
blue sky merged into blue water as the series progressed, churned
white as it dashed down against the changing patterns of black rocks.
Van der Grijn manages to simultaneously capture the calm stillness
of such a remote place and express the pure energy of the ever-rushing
water.
Planning to
cash in on both Christmas and the economy, Art Ireland was
billed as "the largest visual arts event in Ireland." Held in the
RDS in December, it seemed to be both success and failure,
depending on your perspective. The stands ranged from exhibits from
individual artists, to galleries, to Australian wines and Celtic
candles. Used perhaps to some form of curation, it was difficult
to navigate the event as you moved between the varying stands and
standards. The 'wrapping table' was always busy. Roger Cummiskey
and Greg Long, for example, had sold and received commissions and
were planning to return next year. On the other hand, the James
Hayman Gallery, who had come from London to show artists including
Hughie O'Donoghue, Leon Golub, Gary Hume and Nan Goldin, were finding
the visitors unreceptive to the art they had on view.
So is life
easier? Again, the question is next to impossible to answer because
it will always depend on the criteria one uses to judge. Wealth
and a ready market are not necessarily the natural prerequisites
for quality and creativity. In the past this has been illustrated
by the differences in the art scenes in Edinburgh and Glasgow (though
things have now changed). Money in Edinburgh meant that relatively
'safe and saleable' work was on show there, while Glasgow (also
thanks to the MFA at Glasgow's College of Art) was the place to
see far more challenging and exciting experimental pieces, installation,
performance and time-based work; the kind of art that is hard to
package and purchase.
A strong network
of private galleries broadening the market and selling work in Ireland
is, with some notable exceptions, of immediate support only to artists
working to a particular scale and in particular media. Nonetheless,
a public which buys contemporary art is a public engaging with art,
on whatever level. How that engagement is developed is the next
question for all of us.
Winter
Gallery Show, Paul Kane Gallery, December
2000
New Works, The Art Store, November/December 2000
The Lemonstreet Gallery, ongoing
Clea van der Grijn: Salto Angel,
Cross Gallery, November/December 2000
Art Ireland, RDS, December 8 - 10, 2000
Gemma
Tipton is a writer
