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.-

Eamon Colman at Butler Gallery

The Place of the Hooded Crow, Dreams of Coal provided a wonderful backdrop for a brilliant artist talk/discussion between artist Eamon Colman and the director of Butler Gallery, Anna O'Sullivan. The event took place in the midst of Eamon's latest exhibition, Twenty Eight Acres, at Butler Gallery till the end of the month (July 2023).

Since I wanted to see the show and couldn't get to Eamon's launch a couple of weeks ago, the talk was the perfect excuse to make the road trip to Kilkenny a reality. The conversation was great – frank discussions of the autobiography of abstract art, the gestures of mark making, colour, the importance of feeling, seeing vs looking, and everything else that interests artists and non-artists alike! Afterwards I was able to look around the gallery at the work.

Echo from Time was the largest piece in the exhibition at approximately 3m x 3m ; this piece was begun in 2017 and completed in 2023. While I have been familiar with Eamon's work for over 30 years, it is always a joy to see he and his work can still surprise me. 

There were several diptychs and Eamon revealed how they evolved. Certainly both the fragility and the resilience of the handmade paper mirrors that of the human body. On close inspection the viewer can see how each half of the diptych yearns to get closer to the other half; there is both a gentleness and a strength in the materials. Colman's vibrant marks and gorgeous colour are simply teeming with life; energy abounds!

The Wind Had a Skin on It, mixed media on paper, diptych, framed size 101 x 251 x 5.5 cm. 2019-2023

For this exhibition, filmmaker Kevin Hughes followed Eamon working in his studio and on his walks of the 28 acres (an old mining site that has been wildly rejunevated by nature). The film A man - A place was showing in The Digital Gallery upstairs, so I saw part before and part after the talk. Even though I have known Eamon since 1988 the film offered insights into his process that were never articulated to me before.

Apple Howling, mixed media on paper, framed size 76 x 96 x 5.5 cm, 2020-2023

At one point during the artist talk, Eamon spoke about how titling a work offered the viewer a path into the abstract work and yet each work was also open to the viewer's own interpretive response. I agree wholeheartedly with the use of a title and how it can also be an integral part of the visual work's storytelling.

The Miners Nest Sits Precariously Above the Imagination, mixed media on paper, framed size 76 x 96 x 5.5 cm.2019-2023