David King: Echoes Hallward Gallery, Dublin, 2005 pp 36 (unpaginated) oblong format, decorative card covers, ills 20 col No ISBN e10.00 Readability: 5 Reference Use: 2 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 King’s work, images of park and garden in Dublin and predominantly oil on linen are photographically-based and, according to the essay by Ciarán Bennett ‘explore the more prosaic grandeurs of the built environment’. Nicely produced, with a one-page CV, and a clever essay by Bennett which attempts to suggest a biomorphic road to abstraction in the paintings. No list of illustrations The West as Metaphor. Royal Hibernian Academy Dublin, 2005 pp 112 large format p/b ills 48 col e20.00 ISBN: 1-903875-22-6 Readability: 5 Reference Use: 2 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 The exhibition itself, the first of two, has had mixed reviews from the press, and by all accounts doesn’t work particularly well as a coherent visual event. It was suggested by Patrick T Murphy and curated by Dr Yvonne Scott with Murphy as co-curator. She has written the substantial text in the catalogue. Despite some reservations about the text itself, its strength is that it is a deliberate and sustained attempt to speak popularly to an audience without writing ‘down’ to them, as so many academics do. It is largely jargon-free, and manages to pack in a quite considerable range of ideas and references, accompanied by brisk sensible notes and a solid bibliography. Basically it’s a series of mini essays on topics like the Construction of Identity or Roads/Travel/Migration. However, the notion of ‘metaphor’ is blurred, as one is never really sure whether the curator is talking about artist’s metaphor, or the metaphoric uses to which social, economic or politically based individuals have used the artists’ works for. That said, there is a lot of interesting material here. One major drawback relates to the excellent illustrations. The list of works is not alphabetical, is not related to the order of the plates and the illustrations themselves are not cross-referenced to the text. Nor is there an index, so finding a work that the author is discussing can be an infuriating business. From Dark Passages: Ian Charlesworth Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast 2005 pp 44 (unpaginated) square format h/b ills 23 col £ 7.00 ISBN: 0-9549633-0-X Readability: 1 Reference Use: 2 Design & Durability: 4 Quality of Plates: 5 Ian Charlesworth is an English artist, currently domiciled in Belfast, who has been a very active protagonist on the Northern Irish scene and who will be one of the artists representing Northern Ireland at this year’s Venice Biennale. The current catalogue was for a show which was a joint venture between his Belfast gallery and a gallery in Rome. The illustrations are very good but the essay by Gavin Murphy is pompous and stuffed with references to Joyce, De Lillo, Adorno and Richard Hamilton amongst others, which tell you a lot more about the writer than the artist. Charlesworth deserves better. The Beckett Suite: Diarmuid Delargy Galway Arts Centre/Taylor Galleries N.D.2005 pp 36 (unpaginated) oblong format, decorative card covers. ills 25 b/w No ISBN e10.00 Readability: 4 Reference Use: 3 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 Catalogue to accompany a suite of 24 ‘etchings’ (though actually etching, engraving and aquatint), based on an unfinished Beckett text, by one of the few major Irish figures in the field. Beckett gets his name writ large on the cover: Delargy’s is about half the size. Says it all really. There is a three-page CV, a note by Catherine Marshall and an essay by Patrick McCabe which tells us a huge amount about McCabe: I’m still not sure whether it’s meant to be a parody. Tom Fitzgerald: the Ministry of Dust Drawings Gandon Editions, 2004 pp.32 Tall octavo, decorative card covers ills 22 col ISBN: 0948037 e10 Readability: Little to read Reference Use: HHHHH Design & Durability: HHHHH Quality of Plates: HHHHH Published to accompany an exhibition at the Limerick City of Art Gallery, this has a three-page CV, a list of illustrations, and a brief essay by Jim Savage. The drawings have the same quirky wit and humour that you used to get in art college magazines by the likes of ‘Wee John’ Carson. The titles give you a good indication: Attempted crossing of the Atlantic in a lead balloon, or Stairway to Heaven being replaced by Ladders for reasons of Economy. Worth buying. Modern Masters Ava Gallery, Bangor 2005 pp 32 (unpaginated), ills 17 col small oblong format, card covers. Free (except for p&p) No ISBN number. Readability: 5 Reference Use: 2 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 Dealer’s catalogue of work for sale, ranging from a Degas doodle to a small Lavery oil. Notes by Dickon Hall, properly referenced. No list of plates. Parable of the Prodigal Son: Hughie O’Donoghue Fenton Gallery, Cork 2005 pp 32 ills 30 col including 2 foldouts and 2 cover foldouts tall octavo with card covers. e15.00 No ISBN. Readability: 4 Reference Use: 4 Design & Durability: 5 Quality of Plates: 5 Beautifully produced catalogue, elegantly designed and illustrated with an essay by the artist on the genesis of the project and a CV. Very stylish. Brian McAvera is a playwright and art critic.