Aidan Dunne finds in the paintings of Anita Shelbourne subjects woven into the very fabric of environment
Over many decades, Anita Shelbourne has been a quiet presence in Irish art. Looking back over the times she’s lived through and the art she’s made during those times, it feels as if she has never sought the limelight. She has even been inclined to avoid it. At the same time, she has been consistently engaged with the world around her and committed to getting on with and exhibiting her work, which has entailed a level of practical public involvement and visibility, and she has never shied away from any of that.
Perhaps predictably, she has gravitated towards artistic involvements and partnerships with individuals and groups of a similarly understated temperament. The 1970s artistic group Figurative Image is one conspicuous (or perhaps inconspicuous) example, as is Seán McSweeney, who was decisively active in that group. Another is Charles Brady, a consummate individualist whose quiescent, Zen-like mode of painting has proved enduringly appealing to the wider art audience (he and Shelbourne joined forces for a two-person show in 1997). Shelbourne admired Nano Reid, and Patrick Collins is often, understandably, cited as a fellow spirit on several levels. Many recurrent group shows have valued her presence, including those of the Royal Hibernian Academy, where she is a member. Since the late 1990s, Taylor Galleries has been a natural venue for her solo exhibitions.
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