An exhibition at the F E McWilliam Gallery, Co Down featuring David Crone, Mark McGreevy and Dougal McKenzie amply demonstrates that painting in Ireland remains relevant, writes Riann Coulter.
The connections between artists can be both fascinating and revealing. Whether personal, stylistic or generational, self-proclaimed or created through critical or curatorial interpretation, the factors that link artists and their output contextualize their artistic output and provide insights into the creative climate in which they work.
‘Between Two Worlds’ at the F E McWilliam Gallery & Studio features the work of three artists who are linked by a web of relationships both past and present. David Crone, Mark McGreevy and Dougal McKenzie are all painters with connections to Northern Ireland and to one another. The concept for the exhibition also emerged out of connections and relationships. McGreevy and McKenzie were included in ‘Home Grown’, an open submission exhibition of work by artists associated with Banbridge District, which opened at the F E McWilliam Gallery & Studio in December 2011. With their work hung side by side, they stood out as artists whose practice explored the nature and limits of contemporary painting. In researching the possibility of a two-man show of McKenzie and McGreevy, a conversation with curator Feargal O’Malley introduced the idea of exhibiting David Crone with the two younger artists whom he had taught and with whose work his has affinities. The resulting show is a vibrant celebration of contemporary painting featuring both new and previously exhibited work by all three artists and proving without doubt that painting in Ireland is as healthy and as relevant as ever.
Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography at Belfast Exposed and the MAC this summer highlights the medium as a highly-charged, critical artform that constantly questions its own role in the construction of memories, writes Stephanie McBride
As a building commissioned by a State entity charged with the stewardship of a precarious energy resource, Bord Gáis Network Services Centre warrants some reflection on its relevance as a benchmark and path-finder, writes Seán O’Laoire