Irish Arts Review, Summer 2009
As the Irish Arts Review celebrates its 25th year of publication, Brian McAvera seizes the opportunity to start a process of reframing the usual cartography of contemporary Irish art
A first-time exhibitor at the RHA Annual Exhibition, Jonathan Dalton is a worthy and exciting winner of the 2009 Ireland-US Council and Irish Arts Review Portraiture Award, reports Catherine Marshall.
Initiatives like the AIB Prize are more relevant and necessary than ever, argues Donal Maguire as he reviews the work of the artists short-listed for this year’s award
Sarah Browne and Gareth Kennedy have created a series of culturally relevant projects for Ireland’s participation at the 53rd Venice Biennale, writes Marianne O’Kane Boal
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 tensions between the graphic and richly coloured areas of Sinead Ní Mhaonaigh’s new paintings at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery have a strong emotive charge, writes Catherine Leen
James Fitzgerald’s ‘Aran Drawings’ from the late 1960s translate island life into stark visual form writes John M Cunningham, ahead of the exhibition at the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny
Patrick T Murphy ponders definitions of drawing, in the context of an unusual exhibition of sculptures and drawings at Macroom Town Hall Gallery in Cork
The consistent reference to Celtic mythology gives Anthony Scott’s work coherence and a unity of purpose, writes Alannah Hopkin
“I like the idea of being a bit perverse, of not being predictable”; Charles Cullen tells Brian McAvera, as they discuss the dominant themes in his work over the past 40 years
Donal Sheehan’s ‘Urbis Modo’ series of photographs, recently acquired by the National Photographic Archive, holds up an important if uncomfortable mirror to our culture, writes Arran Henderson
“One of the great treasures of the Library in Trinity College Dublin are the Annals of Loch Cé which were compiled for Brian Mac Diarmada of Moylurg, Co Roscommon in 1588/89 and contain the history of the leading families in north Connacht from AD 1014. A portion of this original manuscript covering the period of 1568/90 found its way to the British Library in 1766 where it has remained ever since. Wouldn’t it be holy and a wholesome thought for some inspired authority to bring together the two manuscripts of these annals? Here, Bernadette Cunningham discusses the importance of the Annals of Loch Cé.”
Member of Parliament, architect and kinsman of Charles Stewart Parnell, Samuel Hayes is best known for his design in 1777 of the house and estate at Avondale, Co Wicklow, writes Patrick Bowe
In the 1800s The MacMurrough Kavanaghs of Borris embarked on a lavish building programme that transformed their 18th century mansion into a Tudor revival showpiece. Peter Pearson views the more recent restoration of Borris House, Co Carlow
Kevin Donovan assesses two recent buildings by Stephen Roe, winner of the Arts Council Kevin Kieran Award for architecture
Over the past five years the crafts in Ireland have reinvented themselves as a central force in post-modern, post-industrial society, writes Joseph McBrinn.
Virginia Teehan selects an 11th century Syrian Raqqan bowl from the collection at the Hunt Museum
