John Cronin is one of a small number of artists in Ireland who continues to make large monumental oil paintings as well as smaller works. His ‘Augmented Reality’ at Dublin’s Green on Red boasts a number of mural-scaled paintings on aluminium, alongside (for the first time in over a decade) oil on canvas works. The techniques Cronin employs to execute these richly layered works continue to evolve, just as his preoccupation with the profound technological changes of the early 21st century deepens. The themes of art in the age of artificial intelligence and questions about the nature of time, space, even matter itself, thus come increasingly centre-stage in his recent work. Watch out too for the exhibition following at this venue – ‘Arrangements’ by Caroline McCarthy, her first solo exhibition at the gallery - see the preview of this exhibition on page 58. John Cronin: until 18 June; Caroline McCarthy: 24 June – 30 July
Deeper insights
The Jennings Gallery, now in its fourth year, will feature up to 40 exhibitors from the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at University College Cork. Participating artists include staff and students from the Schools of Medicine, Nursing & Midwifery, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. The title of the show, ‘Learn to See, See to Learn’, reflects the college’s ambitious art programmes, aimed at increasing visual literacy amongst students. In association with the College of Medicine and Health, the Jennings Gallery will host a symposium at the Brookfield Health Sciences Complex on 9 June, launched by Brian O’Doherty. Learn to See, See to Learn: 9 June - 9 July
Emerging photographers
The DIT BA Photography Graduate Exhibition takes place at the Gallery of Photography and the National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square in Temple Bar. The official opening will be performed by Matt Packer, Curator of Exhibitions & Projects at Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork. Graduate Show: 4–26 June
Vanity fair
‘Vanitas’ by Patrick Redmond at the Wexford Arts Centre engages with a theme that has preoccupied generations of artists. A Latin word meaning ‘emptiness’, vanitas in art history typically connotes the earthly as opposed to the spiritual. Stretching back through the Renaissance to medieval funerary art and further still to classical times, ‘vanitas’ paintings thus often include symbols such as skulls, smoke, watches, hour glasses decaying fruit and the like. For his part, Redmond develops this theme in a series of meticulously executed paintings of soap bubbles and stuffed animals. In short, a body of work rooted firmly in a traditional mode of expression, without being in any way traditional. This exhibition is being staged in association with the Molesworth Gallery. Patrick Redmond: 10 June – 30 July
Hughie O’Donoghue in Ballina
Hughie O’Donoghue was born in Manchester in 1953 and spent many childhood summers in Bangor-Erris, Co Mayo, his mother’s home place. This experience has informed much of his work in the past twenty years. A special retrospective exhibition at Ballina Arts Centre, drawn from public and private collections in Ireland, features a selection of O’Donoghue’s North Mayo works, in both painting and print. Hughie O’Donoghue: until 25 June
Altered images
An innovative exhibition designed to stimulate engagement with the visual arts by people with disabilities is under way at the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Each artwork is accompanied by a multi-sensory display, providing meaningful access to disabled and general public alike. Artists featured include Thomas Brezing, David Creedon, Alice Maher, Caroline McCarthy and Abigail O’Brien, with specially commissioned pieces by Amanda Coogan and Daphne Wright. The exhibition has already met with an enthusiastic reception when shown at IMMA last year and Clonmel/Ballina 2009.
Beauty of the bog
Kenneth Webb has tackled many different themes during his long career – the Forest of Dean, Co Down harbours and farmhouses, seaweed, poppies, water lilies, thorn bushes and, in recent years, the bog near his studio in Ballinaboy in Connemara. His forthcoming exhibition at The Kenny Gallery, Galway is entitled ‘Portach’ or ‘Bog’. Webb was born in London and grew up in Gloucester on the Welsh border. He became a lecturer in the Belfast College of Art, and was Head of Painting there from 1953 - 1960. Kenneth Webb: until 30 June
Matisse at the Chester Beatty
The art books of Henri Matisse may be seen at the Chester Beatty Libray this summer, marking the first public display of these works in Europe. The exhibition will feature four of Matisse’s most artistically significant books, including the famous Jazz, on loan from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Collection. A Matisse book inscribed from the artist to Chester Beatty and a copy of Matisse's illustrated version of James Joyce's Ulysses, both from the Library's own collection, will also be on display - see the article on the art books of Matisse on page 90 of this edition. The Art Books of Henri Matisse: until 25 September
Breaking new ground
Graphic Studios Dublin offers new works by Margo McNulty plus sculptures and lithographs by Eamonn O’Doherty this summer. In ‘Inside Out’ McNulty deals with diverse aspects of everyday life and experience via lithographs, etchings, photo-etchings and lambda prints. An accomplished printmaker, the artist even adds video on this occasion. O’Doherty is best known for large-scale public works which stand in Ireland, UK and USA. These include the Tree of Gold at Central Bank Plaza, Dublin; the quincentennial sculpture, Eyre Square, Galway; and the Great Hunger Memorial in Westchester, New York. Doherty is, however, also a skilled printmaker, painter and photographer. This exhibition will feature lithographs and sculptures, reflecting his ironic sense of ‘Irishness’. McNulty/O’Doherty: 9 June - 2 July
Artists of substance
‘Women of Substance’ draws on portraits from the Dublin City Gallery Hugh Lane collection - John Singer Sargent, Giovanni Boldini, William Orpen, James McNeill Whistler, Sarah Purser, Augustus John, John Lavery and Maurice de Vlaminck are among the celebrated artists on display. Sitters drawn from the realms of politics, industry, sports, fashionable society and the arts include Lady Gregory, Maud Gonne, Hazel Lavery, Iris Tree and Clementina Anstruther Thomson. Links between artists and sitters are explored, while the works, spanning some 80 years, showcase the broad variety of art created during this time. ‘Hugh Lane and his Artists’ presents selected treasures from the gallery’s formative years, including paintings by Corot, Constable, Degas and Orpen (previously in the Straats Forbes collection), along with works by Millet, Monet, Roderic O’Conor and John Butler Yeats. Women of Substance /Hugh Lane’s Artists: until 7 August
A sense of place
‘The Tenderness of Attention’ is an exhibition of new work in two parts by Melita Denaro at John Martin Gallery, London (3–25 June ) and Taylor Galleries, Dublin 10 June - 2 July). This is the Donegal-born artist’s first solo show with Taylor since 2006. It comprises a series of new paintings on board and canvas exploring her connection with the dramatic landscape of the Isle of Doagh in Clonmany. The intimate and personal sense of place Denaro captures in her work is paralleled in the detailed descriptions she uses to title her paintings. Charles Tyrrell describes these in the accompanying catalogue as ‘real, robust, straight from the hip, straight from the heart.’ Melita Denaro: 10 June – 2 July
Mevlut Akyildiz at Sol Art
Turkish artist Mevlut Akyildiz is having his inaugural Irish exhibition of sculpture and painting at Dublin's Sol Art Gallery. This award-winning artist is a graduate of the esteemed Istanbul State Academy of Fine Art. Akyildiz’s confident use of colour and portrayal of scenes from literary sources such as Jules Vernes’ 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and tales like Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, perfectly illustrates his intention of depicting both the frivolity and seriousness of life. Describing his motivation, Akyildiz has said ‘I see life as an ironic tragedy of beauty and ugliness, fairness and unfairness all strongly integrated with each other’. Like Chagall, his work combines vibrant colour with floating figures cast in a fairytale-like narrative. ‘I much prefer to have humour and optimism at the forefront of my paintings and sculptures so that they may bring joy to my viewers and have a positive impact on people’. Here the artist, who is based in Istanbul, reminds us that art that gives us pleasure and prompts a smile is equally valid to art that provokes – a sentiment that should find favour with Irish audiences currently. (Think of Matisse and Picasso in their celebration of the joys of life in their respective paintings entitled Joie de vivre.) For all of Akyildiz’s lighter moments – seen to good effect in his series of water nymphs or sirens clad in maillot swimming suits surrounding a Poirot-like figure – the flipside of this jollity is captured in his painting The Threepenny Opera which hints at life’s darker side as originally intended in Brecht's and Weill’s musical satire. Well-known throughout Turkey, Akyildiz has also exhibited widely in France, Greece and Finland. This exhibition is an initiative of the Turkish Embassy and matches Sol Art Gallery’s programme of introducing international artists to an Irish audience. Mevlut Akyildiz at Sol Art Gallery, Dublin: until 12 June
What lies beneath?
New large scale canvasses by Charles Tyrrell are currently on view at Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. Since spending his formative years in Meath, Tyrrell has lived and worked in the Beara Peninsula for nearly twenty years. His abstract canvases invite, yet rebuff, the viewer from gaining evidence of what truly lies beneath. This new body of work, staged in partnership with Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, celebrates the artist’s strong connections with both Meath and Cork. Each work engenders a narrative/conversation between previous compositions, drawing the viewer steadily ever deeper as the show unfolds. Charles Tyrrell: until 2 July
Home and away
The Catherine Hammond Gallery in West Cork hosts the first Irish exhibition of John Kingerlee’s recent work since the completion of three years of museum exhibitions in the US. The show, entitled ‘The Whole Planet is a Garden’, features small oils and works on paper. This is a rare opportunity to view Kingerlee’s intense abstract art in the locale where much of it was made. The gallery’s second summer exhibition is Siobhan McDonald’s ‘Crater’. This results from a journey to study the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland and illustrate how the atmosphere was altered after its eruptions. Much of the imagery has an other-worldly quality, ‘with hidden forces, chaotic unpredictability and energies boiling beneath the surface’. In August, the gallery will showcase new work by Tim Goulding. Entitled ‘Clouds’, this features works on canvas and paper, offering romantic, ethereal skyscape studies. John Kingerlee: 17 June – 13 July; Siobhan McDonald: 14 July – 10 August ; Tim Goulding: 11 August – 8 September
Global perspective
‘The Past is Another Country’ is a new exhibition of large-scale photographs by Jackie Nickerson at the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown. This artist’s work is driven by a passionate interest in people and their environments. The current show continues her investigation into the nature of identity, exploring how global homogenisation has affected indigenous and local culture. Nickerson has spent the last ten years travelling all over the globe, taking photographs in Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Kenya, Japan, Ireland, France, China and the USA. Jackie Nickerson : until 25 June
