‘There’s a huge sensuous pleasure in making a colour’ Fergus Martin tells Brian McAvera as an exhibition of his work opens at IMMA
‘Everything that is beautiful has something creepy about it or something unsettling underneath,’ Vera Klute talks to Brian McAvera about her aesthetic
Michael Cullen’s interpretation of Irish mythology at the Taylor Galleries, Dublin, is like being taken on a journey through the history of art, writes Brian McAvera
Robert Ballagh has long been recognised for his political engagement; BRIAN McAVERA asks him to enlarge on the artist’s position in
society ahead of his retrospective at the RHA in September
An attraction to the clear compositions of the early Renaissance and the tensions inherent in German Expressionism may seem incompatible, but, as Michael Kane explains to BRIAN McAVERA, both styles have had a direct influence on his work
Brian McAvera pays tribute to Edward Murphy whose personal commitment to the development of Irish art research will reap immeasurable benefits for generations
Painter and master printmaker Stephen Lawlor talks to Brian McAvera about the nuance of approach required for each medium, ahead of his solo show at Oliver Sears Gallery this winter
Ursula Burke, Emma Donaldson and Deirdre McKenna explore the mutable topic of time at the F E McWilliam Gallery, Banbridge. Claire Dalton looks at their responses
Patrick Pye’s innovation as a modernist lies in his revitalization of religious art, writes Stephen McKenna in his assessment of Brian McAvera’s new book on the artist
“I have always been interested in how very ordinary things can lead us to an understanding of the extraordinary”, Marie Foley tells Brian McAvera as assemblages for her small sculptural works go on exhibit as part of the Arts Council’s “Into the Light” exhibition at the Model, Sligo this winter.
Rodney Dickson, who is based in New York, has over the last intensely active decade enjoyed a global reach through his exhibitions; Brian McAvera meets the Ulster-born artist
‘Putting a helicopter in the sky isn’t a political statement, it’s just that I saw more helicopters than seagulls’, Dermot Seymour tells Brian McAvera as his retrospective continues at the Irish College in Paris.
Can minimalist-abstract art have content? Ciarán Lennon addresses the question posed by Brian McAvera
Colm Brennan tells Brian McAvera “The mythology, topography, history and folklore attached to a particular place name would be among my earliest thoughts in addressing the possibility of a new piece of public sculpture”
“Paris gave me a sense of form in space and space inside a form,” sculptor-painter Deborah Brown tells Brian McAvera ahead of her exhibition at the Gordon Gallery, Derry, in November.
Brian McAvera applauds Colin Davidson’s turn to portraiture as several of his works go on display in Belfast, Dublin and London
“My desire to change the way we see the world in order to remake it is central,” Maud Cotter tells Brian McAvera.
“I like to feel that you can walk into it.”
John Doherty describes his style of Realism to Brian McAvera ahead of his exhibition at the Taylor Galleries in Dublin this Summer.
Despite a long and distinguished career at home and abroad, T P Flanagan can still proclaim, in conversation with Brian McAvera, “It may sound phoney but I’m never aware of myself as a totally formed artist”
When it comes to art of an unsettling nature is there a disconnection between our intellectual position and our aesthetic response? asks Brian McAvera.
“I look at landscape and wonder what lives in it,” landscapist and committed environmentalist Jim Manley tells Brian McAvera ahead of his exhibition at the Tom Caldwell Gallery, Belfast
On the topic of his new work Mick O’Dea tells Brian McAvera “The Black and Tans were the Bogeyman and I am looking at what the Bogeyman looked like.”
“The dream world with me is so strong. It’s like my personal theatre and guide”, Cathy Carman tells Brian McAvera ahead of her exhibition in September at the Dock Arts Centre, Co Leitrim.
Brian McAvera interviews Donald Teskey about his approach to painting, drawing, landscape and the making of his work
Brian McAvera previews new work from Brian Henderson at the Taylor Galleries in Dublin this autumn
Brian McAvera talks to Martin Gale about his approach to painting, his influences and his relationship with the Irish landscape
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
“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
In his early thirties Patrick Pye converted to Catholicism: here he tells BRIAN McAVERA of the impact this has had on his life’s work and his artistic alignment with Italian art before 1500
‘We’d been brought up with the notion that society progressed, from the Mayans and the Incas up to us, but we are still as superstitious, we still create false gods and we are still suspicious of people who are different from us,’ Jack Pakenham tells Brian McAvera ahead of his exhibition in Dublin
‘In reality the spotlight on any “ism” depends on the zeitgeist’, Alice Maher tells Brian McAvera, in response to questions of feminist or political overtones in her work
The Royal Ulster Academy has not kept pace with currents in contemporary art practice, but this year there are signs of change, argues Brian McAvara
“Lithography is an extension of my painting,’ — John Breakey explains to Brian McAvera”
Brian McAvera considers the leap from all to gallery as a new generation of artists like Conor Harrington successfully negotiate both arenas
Brian McAvera anticipates a deepening appreciation for the work of Northern artist T P Flanagan following his retrospective at Bonhams, Dublin this March
Has capturing the pattern of everyday life put Hector McDonnell among the ‘Kitchen Sink’ School; or is he as he claims, an Impressionist? Brian McAvera asks the questions
Brian McAvera examines a provocative new series from Colin Davidson, which brings us face to face with those who have been overlooked in Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace
‘I like painting with a gun to my head,· Nick Miller tells Brian McAvera about techniques he’s adopted in order to capture immediacy in his art
Daphne Wright is known for her unsettling sculptural installations that tap into the fragility of the human condition: in conversation with Bnan McAvera she recalls the source of her inspiration
Michael Warren has been consistent in his desire to marry the contemplative and the concrete: here he tells Brian McAvera, ‘to make is, for me, to make matter, matter’
Colin Darke tells Brian McAvera how seeing a burning cigarette paper sparked an idea for an expressive means of communication
Compared to metal and marble sugar and wax may seem like frivolous materials but sculptor Brenda Jamison is made of sterner stuff, as Brian McAvera discovers
Until 2010, I never regarded myself as a portrait painter and had absolutely no desire to be one’ Colin Davidson tells Brian McAvera…
‘I’m trying to make the invisible visible’ Pat Harris tells Brian McAvera on the eve of his exhibition at the Taylor Galleries, Dublin
Brian McAvera wonders whether soulless consumerism is the message in Ian Cumberland’s dramatically installed artworks recently shown at Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast
All around the globe, conflicts have and continue to shape the land and their inhabitants’; Elizabeth Magill explores the flipside of the buccolic in conversation with Brian McAvera.
Relocating to France brought a change in focus for Eithne Jordan, who tells Brian McAvera, ‘I had begun to feel that I was painting myself into an alley’ ahead of her exhibition at Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane
‘I want to make sculpture that transends its scale, and that has a soul’: Anthony Scott tells Brian McAvera about his purpose in creating sculpture
Eilís O’Connell is widely admired for expanding the language of sculpture; here she tells Brian McAvera ‘Gravity is my dearest enemy’ ahead of her participation in ‘Ark’ this summer at Chester Cathedral
Brian McAvera sees Colin Davidson wrestle with sexual politics in his new series of Nudes on view this autumn at Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin.
Reflecting on a career marked by invention and experiment, distinguished sculptor Bob Sloan tells Brian McAvera, ‘I find working in the studio as difficult as ever. Nothing comes easy’
This month Dorothy Cross delves into our national collections to create a show for IMMA,here she tells Brian McAvera ‘Sometimes I need extreme new experiences to find new directions,’ while the show continues into March 2015
‘Most of the art that inspires me is pre-industrial’, John Kindness talks to Brian McAvera about his interest in the ‘longevity of imagery as opposed to its immediate social impact’
Vivienne Roche belongs to a generation who transformed what sculpture could be. ‘I don’t consider myself an object-maker. I work with place and change’, she tells Brian McAvera while her exhibition continues at the Royal Hibernian Academy
‘Culture is about sharing; Nationalism is about ownership.’ Hughie O’Donoghue encapsulates the chasm between the two concepts, in conversation with Brian McAvera
