IADT Grad Show

At the beginning of June I went (several times) to view the IADT Grad Show. I had had a chance to get to know the fourth year art students last November when I helped out with the "rollover" shows at Pallas Studios in Dublin. It was a double pleasure then to see the final works of these emerging artists and to see how their practices had developed in the intervening months.  

I had previously seen photos of Mary McClelland's mixed media photographic installations (or wall mounted photographic sculptures?) but didn't realise until I saw them in person that the delicate framing is layered waxed paper. This was the centre piece of an alter-like triptych.

The elongated rose form is again created from layers of waxed paper, not quite enclosing a piece of honeycomb, fresh and oozing. McClelland's work is elegant and evocative; at once spiritual and erotic. To see the other elements in this piece and more of McLelland's work click here.

Since I consider myself primarily a painter, I couldn't help but take an interest in the paintings on display. There were three large paintings by Mateusz Lubecki, two of which can be seen below.

I was intrigued that Lubecki's paintings are both naturalistic and abstract at the same time!

I was very attracted to the stylised and mysterious paintings of Jago Moulton. The loose brush work of the white and flesh tones played off and emphasised the flatness of the polka dot dress and the black hair and background.

To me this painting is like a photograph from a dream - holding a memory and meaning that you can't quite get at to understand fully. I love it!

The exhibition contained all art forms and I have only featured a few pieces here by three grads, but a more comprehensive look at works in the exhibition can be accessed here.

Stable IMMAGES - Studios 9 & 10

It seems like ages, but it was only two weeks ago that I went to IMMA to see the exhibition of first year IADT art students. The exhibition was the culmination of research and work they had been creating in response to being based at the Irish Museum of Modern Art since January.  In my previous post I had a look at some of the work that required darkness for exhibition (in Studio 5) and some of the work that was sited outside. As I said in that post, I was very impressed with the cohesiveness of the exhibition and maturity of the work. 

On entering these exhibition spaces, via Studio 9 the variety and scope of the work was immediately apparent.

There were two short animated videos on one monitor. This one used the images of a red hand and a red face to interact with specific surfaces in the architecture of IMMA.

There was quite a lot of research into IMMA's architecture in this series of drawings & photographs, but because there were no labels for individual works, I could only wonder if this was the research behind the blue scale model of IMMA hung on the wall in Studio 5 (I posted a picture of it last week).

I spoke to the artist who took these photographs of colourful, temporary interventions she had made on various IMMA walls.

This photographic installation referred to the Greek myth of Narcissus.

The works are self-portraits of the artist, distorted by photographing through smoke, water and other materials.

Apparently this artist intensively examined architectural spaces around IMMA before creating detailed temporary chalk on black board drawings.

This series of photo documentation of mirror and light experiments was intriguing.

And I wondered if these experiments were the background for this installation of plastic sheeting and blue threads? However, this I will not know as I only met a couple of the students, and hadn't asked about this piece at the time.

So my gripe about the show is regarding non-labelling and attibution. Although the artists involved were named at the entrance to the studios, a floor plan should have been available to answer simple questions of authorship. Otherwise, I was greatly impressed by the exhibition and look forward to seeing more work by these developing artists.

Stable IMMAGES 1 - Studio 5 & Grounds

On the weekend I went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) to check out the exhibition of work by the first year IADT Dún Laoghaire art students. These students had been based in IMMA studios since January and this final exhibition was a culmination of their research work in responding to that experience. The exhibition was spread over three studios and the grounds, so I will do another post to cover some more of the work. Studio 5 was darkened to accommodate all the works that needed to have a dark room for display. One of the first years, who was invigilating the studio, was very enthusiastic in discussing the work, the makers, and their inspirations so I got some great insight into the work. This first visible projection was created jointly by two women who were inspired by the statuary on the grounds of IMMA. It was a moving projection, so the image was constantly changing (so impossible to capture in a still image). 

I had met her previously, so I know this next moving projection was by Joanne Harold and she was inspired by the garden balustrades.

Another female art student created this sculptural video piece in response to the arches in the basement of IMMA.

 Unfortunately the pieces were not labelled, so the artists cannot be acknowledged by me, but this piece was in response to being aware of light reactions through the coloured acetate lettering in the main reception foyer of IMMA.

This piece is a carefully measured model of the IMMA building itself and treating the building as the artwork.

The artist here was creating a design for lighting in the extensive gardens at IMMA. 

I was struck by the maturity of the work and the coherency of the exhibition, though I was disappointed that there was no labelling of works or accompanying floor plan in order to acknowledge attribution (just a page of names and general location on the wall at the entrance).

 Though I did not see all the outdoor pieces, it was a gorgeous day and this woven branch work was unmissable!

Also, as I was leaving I saw this graffiti piece - painted plastic stretched between two trees.

Gare d'Antibes - finished painting!

I was away in the US & Canada towards the end of June and beginning of July so I had to leave my painting till my return. I worked on it on my return in July and in August finally put my signature to the completed painting.

My husband took lots of detail photos for me. Where mountains meet sky.

Sunset sky.

Antibes train station.

Tree branches with mountain background.

Treeline, mountains and sky.

Here is the complete painting: Gare d'Antibes, acrylic on paper, approx 220 cm x 267 cm, triptych, 2015.

Gare d'Antibes - new painting in progress

This is the view from the third floor apartment in Antibes, where we have stayed a few times with relatives. This is looking to the left, north. at the maritime alps at sunset over Gare d'Antibes. The view right is gorgeous too, looking south the harbour is only a 5-10 minute walk away with the scultpure, Le Nomade looking out over the Mediterranean. This picture was taken last August.

 If I had turned the camera left at the time, the picture would have been of yachts and a floodlit Le Nomade. 

But I digress. I did a quick sketch last August of the parts of the view that intrigued me: the line of the mountains and the large tree in front of the station. The sketchbook I was using at the time is one of my own, pocket sized using recycled materials.

A few months ago my husband was assisting me in putting up some kraft paper so that I could start a new painting of the sunset over Gare d'Antibes.

I first did a preliminary chalk drawing. Immediate changes are apparent once I started to add paint. 

And so the process of painting begins with some blocks of colour...

What We Call Love Part 2

The "What We Call Love" exhibition at IMMA in Dublin is so large, and there is much to remember about it. I particularly liked this delicate piece by Louise Bourgeois. As I said previously, I am more familiar with her large-scale works, but the small works are just as powerful in their expression of intimacy. The embracing figures are hand sewn soft sculptures and this looks to be a hand blown glass enclosure, reminding one of a bell jar.

 Again in another small piece by Bourgeois, the embracing figures are surrounded by another material. This soft gauze can be seen as a cocoon-like protective enclosure.

I personally don't think any discussion of love can take place without a mention of John & Yoko, so I was pleased to see a few photos of them in a political section of the exhibition -- from the Montreal bed-in, their wedding at Gibraltar and a picture from The Acorn Project.

 There were Irish artists also included in the show. I have long admired the work of sculptor Dorothy Walker, so was delighted to see some of her work that I hadn't seen before. The Passion Bed, 1993, is a delicate piece made of steel wire and sandblasted wine glasses.

Here is a detail of it:

Garrett Phelan is another Irish artist whose work I am familiar with. I first met Garrett when he was working in Temple Bar Gallery & Studios at the time of my first solo exhibition, and have bumped into him a few times over the past 20 or so years. It was delightful to meet him again at the IMMA launch. Below is one of his pieces that were included in the show, New Faith Love Song. Unfortunately the other other piece, a gorgeous gold reliquary specially commissioned for this show is too new to find its image on the web, and the launch was too crowded for me to get a good photo of it!

I can't remember when or where I saw a whole exhibition of Rebecca Horn's complex machine installations (The Tate Modern or IMMA?) but I enjoyed seeing her work again. The photo of course cannot show the sound and movement in the piece -- the steel "arrow" tapping against one of the glass funnels, the guns moving until they randomly face each other perfectly and shoot liquid at each other.

IMMA touts this as its "most ambitious exhibition to date" and it most definitely is. I am only skimming the top of the barrel with my blog. The exhibition includes nearly 200 works of national and international importance and interest. In addition to the artists that I have highlighted there is also work by Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Nan Goldin, Marina Abramovich, Meret Oppenheim, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jean Genet -- the list goes on. The exhibition continues to Feb 7 2016, see it if you can! Further information at imma.ie.

What We Call Love Part 1

The exhibition "What We Call Love" opened recently at IMMA in Dublin. I braved monsoon-like weather and had to leave my house at 4.30 to catch a bus that took two hours to get into the city during rush hour. But it was worth it. The show was huge and encompassed all media with work by modern masters and contemporary international and Irish artists. Certainly love provides a wide topic for interpretation and exposition. In the first room of the exhibition it was love at first sight -- this tiny carving on lime wood, "Couple" is by Picasso.

Also in the first room, it was my pleasure to walk around this bronze construction by Alberto Giacometti. It's a complicated piece with clues to its original molding, but impossible to see welds (could it have been cast in one piece?). There is a lovely painting by Max Ernst on the wall behind the sculpture.

I was surprised by this Dali diptych, as I have never seen images of it before. Other Dali paintings that I've seen live have always surprised me by being a lot smaller than I expect; in this respect I was quite surprised at how comparatively large this piece is!

In one of the rooms there were quite a number of works by Marcel Duchamp with which I was unfamiliar. There were four small-scale bronze and mixed media sculptures in enclosed plinth cases, but there were also a series of etchings on Japanese vellum that were exquisite. The etchings were all "drawings" that referenced old master works. The picture here unfortunately does no justice to the work, but I didn't want to exclude Duchamp from the vicarious experience of the exhibition.

Brancusi's "Kiss" is iconic to me -- I am sure an image of this appears in every art history book I have ever seen, so it was great to see the real sculpture.

I am more familiar with Louise Bourgeois' large scale works so it was lovely to see the intimate pieces that were included in this exhibition. The embracing figures in the middle of this beaded mandala are soft sculptures. I will include more images of her work in another post about this exhibition.