What is urgent for artists working in Ireland? Sarah Kelleher explores the RDS Visual Art Awards at the Irish Museum of Modern Art
In a gallery in the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s (IMMA)West Wing, I step on a square of parquet flooring that sinks beneath my feet. A puff of scented air rises up; it smells of something resinous and earthy. The next step releases a whoosh of jasmine. The installation by Christopher McMullan (Fig 1) (BA Fine Art, NCAD and RDS Mason Hayes and Curran LLP Centre Culturel Irlandais Residency Award) is an abstract map of Ireland made from distilled aromas gathered from various parts of the country, which each visitor creates differently by walking across the sprung floor of his apparatus. Unexpected, thought provoking, formally innovative, technically accomplished and utterly exciting, McMullan’s piece is indicative of the quality of the work on show in this year’s RDS Visual Arts Awards.
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