Wednesday 2 August 2023

Orla Whelan at The Pearse Museum, Dublin

I visited The Pearse Museum in early June, specifically because I wanted to see Orla Whelan’s latest exhibition Glas, Gorm, Uaine and see how she related it to the musem itself. I blogged about the outdoor part of the visit here.


Whelan's abstract work tends to be site specific with an intention related to the building in which it is set, so I was curious how it would fare in this museum. I last saw her work at Rathfarnham Castle and I blogged about it here. My own work was exhibited at Rathfarnham Castle last year and I did several blogs about work leading up to the exhibition, installation, opening night and virtual tours; simply do a search on this site for Memory Is My Homeland for further details.

The gallery at the Pearse Museum consists of two rooms. The first room was occupied by a large floor piece 


and the walls of the second room contained smaller works on linen. 


I was fascinated by the two antique chairs in the room and it took a moment to realise they belonged with Whelan's exhibition.


They fitted in so well with the historicity of the Museum.  Titling the chairs Bedroom Chair for Patrick and Bedroom Chair for Liam makes sense for their setting in The Pearse Museum. 


Whelan had meticulously woven a pattern, that corresponded with her small paintings, into the mesh seat of each antique chair frame.


The fine marquetry of the geometric fireplace guard also took its natural place in the room.


The show continues till August 13th.-

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