Michael Cullen’s interpretation of Irish mythology at the Taylor Galleries, Dublin, is like being taken on a journey through the history of art, writes Brian McAvera
Michael Cullen’s forthcoming exhibition at Taylor Galleries will feature a series of Celtic myths: Setanta and the Hound of Ulster; The Salmon of Knowledge; Tír na nÓg (a triptych); The Cattle Raid of Cooley (a triptych); The Children of Lir; and Deirdre of the Sorrows, all of which, with the exception of the last-named, were in a finished state in his studio when the writer visited.
The Celtic Revival period saw an efflorescence in the use of myth in literature and drama, though artists often tended to reference them, as opposed to taking on the narration of the stories, perhaps because, as 19th and early 20th-century illustrators realised, and as le Brocquy was to recognise later, the stories lent themselves more readily to sequential illustration.
Angela Griffith reflects on the multifaceted practice of Alex Pentek, whose work ranges from the solidity of public art to the floating paper sculpture currently on view at the RhA
Christian Dupont compares two embroideries illustrating an enigmatic poem by WB Yeats from the collection of Burns Library at Boston College
Andy Sheridan’s nocturnal compositions of a city at rest joins the great tradition of the fl√¢neur, writes Ros Kavanagh