Patrick Scott has certainly established his own particular niche, writes Brian Fallon in his assessment of a uniquely elegant figure in Irish art
Patrick Scott occupies a special, and even slightly anomalous, position in contemporary Irish art. The latter adjective is not intended to be in any sense pejorative or slighting. It is meant, instead, to imply that while Scott’s career has been a relatively public one, among his generation he somehow resists placing and has no Irish contemporaries who resemble him stylisti ≠cally. It even seems to me that, on the whole, he is not quite what his supporters think he is, and that the occasional hostility he has aroused is also based largely on wrong prem ≠ises. Meanwhile he has occupied a position, which, in the last few decades especially, has become increasingly secure and respected but has never been really commanding. Or to put it differently: he has achieved recognition rather than fame and his is certainly not a ‘glamour’ reputation in the sense that, say, Louis le Brocquy was for half a century. This, very probably, represents more or less the kind of situation he would have chosen himself.
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