Michael Dempsey argues for a reappraisal of the work of Patrick Graham, Brian Maguire, Patrick Hall and Timothy Hawkesworth, as the four are reunited at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane
The fallout of the Irish economic crisis has brought back to us memories of emigration and the long dole queues of the 1980s. The authority of the Catholic church had only just begun to weaken and Northern Ireland remained in turmoil, a site of unrelenting violence that did not agree a cease-fire for another decade. It was from this anxious, restless situation a number of incensed artists — Patrick Graham, Brian Maguire, Patrick Hall and Tim Hawkesworth who were till then somewhat marginalised — emerged and consolidated their position as exponents in the postcolonial discourse of modern Ireland.
