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Kerlin Gallery’s otherwise pristine space has been utterly, wonderfully transformed upon the launch of its summer group show entitled “Deep One Perfect Morning”, which brings together work by a handful of prominent Irish figures alongside that of invited artists Caroline Achaintre and Jan Pleitner. Skittles, latex, food dye, leather, aluminium, frozen pizza, oil paints, ceramics, Plexiglas, electrical cables, wooden balls and glass beads — this veritable soup of seemingly irreconcilable and incongruous materials are unified to form the basis of the exhibition. The net result is an almost surreal assemblage of pieces across a range of mediums, forms, colours and textures; an exhibition with great propensity for provoking both intense sensory and cerebral stimulation as well as pure unfettered enjoyment. It is dynamic and unrelentingly full-on. Indeed, upon reaching the top of the stairs and entering into the principle gallery space, one would be forgiven for requiring a moment of pause and acclimatisation to the scene before them.

The visitor is subjected to somewhat of a bombardment from all angles. Work not only hangs on the walls but seems to project outwards from them. Where some pieces are suspended from the ceiling, others seem to rise up from the polished cement floor. What remains of an occasion that has not lasted and The Evidence of Absence by Isabel Nolan and Mark Francis respectively appear like pseudo-partition walls, screening the space and channeling the visitor’s circulation through it. The rectilinear angles of the former seem to shout directions at the visitor. A series of tubular, seatless ‘Myrtle’ chairs by Aleana Egan appear as obstructions on a pathway around the room — the viewer must acknowledge and engage with these pieces in order to navigate them. The same holds for Sam Keogh’s puke piles, with 14 of these mixed-media iterations dotted throughout the gallery — one watches their step for these puddles at every turn. The works dominate the space. Liam Gillick’s ‘Post Discussion Development Platform’ backs itself into a corner as if to allow one pass by. It absorbs the sunlight from the overhead roof window, tinting it yellow and fragmenting and refracting it — maybe the summer show’s tacit acknowledgement of its namesake season outside the gallery walls.

Jan Pleitner’s work, one may be happy to hear, is safely mounted on the wall and is perhaps some of the strongest in show. Executed on a relatively large scale, his canvases appear to be carved haphazardly by the brush. The, at times aggressive and violent, gestures and strokes are rendered in a disarmingly luminous spectrum of colours. Connotations of mid-twentieth century abstract expressionism are largely unavoidable but the artist goes far beyond them, bringing a freshness to the style, therefore refusing to be strictly defined by it. Pleitner’s paintings and the deep emotional force behind them reveal to the visitor that this exhibition is not solely about playfulness in the summer sun. It is also an exhibition of great depth, with a certain strain of darkness present to temper the light. Evidenced throughout the show, this may be achieved through an uncomfortable texture, a menacing angle or a cold, industrial form. As such, the exhibition reminds us that during these finer months clouds do roll in, and that even summer has its storms and dark spells.

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Deep One Perfect Morning runs until August 30 at Kerlin Gallery, Anne’s Lane, Dublin 2.