Drama Abstracted
Brian P Kennedy evaluates the spiritual element in Sean Scully’s painting and his affinity with Rothko’s belief in the power of abstraction to connect with the viewer

Design Portfolio
New Design Awards at the RDS, the recipient of the first Crafts Council of Ireland Bursary, and the Made for America Award winner are reviewed by Eleanor Flegg

EV+A 2006
Marianne O'Kane reports on Ireland’s premier contemporary art event as over sixty national and international artists prepare to converge on Limerick and engage with the theme of generosity

Traces of utopia
Michael Canning’s new paintings at the Hallward Gallery in Dublin this April evoke intimacy and monumentality simultaneously, argues Paul M O’Reilly

A Museum for the Capital – Hugh Lane’s Inspiration
Ahead of the re-opening of The Hugh Lane Gallery in May, John Mulcahy recalls the vision of its founder and considers the gallery’s identity as a museum for a major European capital

The chaos of creation
Philip McEvansoneya reviews Margarita Cappock’s Francis Bacon’s Studio, and pinpoints why this painter will continue to intrigue despite the massive task of analysis and identification of 7,000 items found in his studio

A European Commission
Brian Fallon traces the evolution of Imogen Stuart’s latest sculpture from
its beginnings in maquette and cartoon form in her studio in Dublin, to its realisation in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris

Memory and invention
Clement McAleer outlines the transformation in his painting through
his experiments with acrylic and pastel and tells Brian McAvera how his
recent return to Northern Ireland has given him a renewed connection
to his environment

The talented Captain Bligh
David Davison assesses the work of Captain Bligh, a 19th-century Irish photographer whose remarkable printwork has recently come to light

A meeting of minds: Russell, Solomons and O’Sullivan
The close-knit friendship and career of three key figures from the Celtic Revival is recalled by Riann Coulter in her assessment of the A E Russell Collection in Trinity College, Dublin

Security and Sanctity: the Ecclesiastical Metalwork of Lough Kinale
Eamonn P Kelly discusses the earliest and largest cumhdach discovered in Ireland and a number of ecclesiastical objects found near a crannóg in Lough Kinale, County Longford, which will go on display at the National Museum later this year

A Profile of Maurice Craig
Judith Hill takes the opportunity to appraise Maurice Craig’s approach and contribution to architectural history, in advance of an exhibition based on his photographic record of Dublin at the Irish Architectural Archive in Dublin this April

Painting for Posterity
Peter Pearson examines the extraordinary, yet mostly private work, of a group of talented muralists as the discipline enjoys something of a renaissance in Ireland

Curator’s choice
Adriaan E Waiboer discusses a recent acquistion to the National Gallery’s Collection, a fine example from the Dutch Golden Age, by 17th-century artist Aelbert Cuyp