Patrick MacAllister at The Mermaid

I realised last week that Pat MacAllister's exhibition, "Peering Out", was going to close soon, so I hightailed it over to The Mermaid Arts Centre here in Bray to have a look. I had covid when the exhibition was launched so could not attend, though it would have been nice to see Pat as I hadn't seen him in years. As well as an exhibition of work, I am also always interested to see how a body of work is laid out in a particular space - there seems be a unique solution applied to different exhibitions. At the Mermaid, the gallery is usually accessed by a stairwell (there is a disability elevator available) from the main floor lobby.

I was attracted to the black and white images that faced me as I came up the stairs. It has been many years since I have seen Pat's work, which I remember as colourful and non-objective so I was also surprised at what seemed to me as figuration popping from the black and white canvases.

Indeed, it wasn't just the impasto playing with my perception - there definitely were a crowd of people (albeit loosely painted) expressionistically depicted in this painting. 

This work entitled "Lockout 2", from 2018, had an explanatory didactic next to it and the viewer got a sense, through paint, of the historical industrial dispute in Dublin in 1913. 

Although the pieces that I first came across in the gallery were probably just as interesting to view, I made a bee-line for the larger paintings, which drew me to them through the extra wall that seemed to contain them in a way that made them special.

Likewise, the small room to the side and back was attractive because it had been painted a dark grey unlike the white of the rest of the gallery.

The pieces here were smaller than the other ones in the gallery but they suited this intimate environment and they had a "large" impact.

This was one of my favourite pieces in the show. The work itself is reminiscent of a map in my mind, with representations of game markers, yet it depicts no known map and no specific game. I look at it as a totally non-objective painting but it doesn't bring me back to Pat's old work that I remember. On the contrary, I see it as a move forward for his style. 

 

A return to live events!

Towards the end of April I was so excited (but still cautious) about going to the National Concert Hall in Dublin to see a live event. I had bought tickets to see Laurie Anderson before the pandemic, and then of course, everything in the world went topsy-turvy and the event was cancelled. As things started to reopen Anderson had started touring again, and so the anticipated event took place with me in the audience! I had happily been accessing (online) Ms Anderson's output over the past two years (6 Harvard "lectures", the "Party in the Bardo" radio show, and various Hirshorn Museum events)

However, familiarity with Ms Anderson's recent work is no replacement for the live event! The evening was exciting and delightful! Anderson was accompanied by the wild improvising cellist, Rubin Kodheli. What a wonderful experience!

A few days later, Bray Jazz Festival - an annual May bank holiday event - returned to live events. For many years I have been following amazing musician brothers, Conor Guilfoyle (drums) and Ronan Guilfoyle (bass), and their various jazz projects.

This year The Conor Guilfoyle Octet was set to appear at The Mermaid Arts Centre celebrating the birth of "cool jazz" about 75 years ago. The music was totally fresh - what a joy to be there!

Looking at the Festival programme, I found out that Tudo Bem, Ronan Guilfoyle's Brazilian jazz outfit was playing at The Harbour Bar the next evening.  It was certainly strange for me to be out and about at three live events in the space of a week after several years of livestreaming and zoom events only, but it felt good and right!