WORDS Gabija Purlytė
1. Remains by Willie Doherty: As we get settled into the new term, the Kerlin Gallery treats us to a new video work by one of the most highly acclaimed contemporary Irish artists Willie Doherty. In Remains, Doherty continues to explore a central theme in his art: his native city of Derry and its history of segregation and sectarian violence. As the camera follows the streets of the town and its surrounding landscape accompanied by a voiceover, the video gradually turns from a study of normality to the portrayal of an everyday pierced by intrusions of violence and threat.
17 January – 4 March 2014, Kerlin Gallery
2. Eva Kotátková and Dominik Lang: Bringing together the mutually hospitable threads in their practices, the two Czech artists will collaborate to produce a newly commissioned installation. Following an intensive IMMA production residency, the work will be built onsite, and is promised to be a ground-breaking “fragmented collage of an institutional model to encompass the entirety of the gallery space“. In addition, Kotátková’s sculptural installation will fill Project Art Centre’s Cube theatre between 23 January and 9 February. Judging by this artist’s participation in last year’s Venice Biennale’s international exhibition, this show should be one to surprise and amaze. Opening reception on 30 January, 6-8pm.
31 January – 14 April 2014, Project Art Centre
3. Patrick Scott, Image Space Light: A major retrospective show of Irish artist Patrick Scott’s work spanning the seventy years of his career, presented in collaboration with VISUAL Carlow. The exhibition at IMMA will concentrate on Scott’s early works from 1940-1969, while VISUAL will display works from the 1960s to the present. Perhaps best known for his Gold Paintings, where paint and gold leaf are employed to create arrangements of abstract geometric shapes on raw canvas, the artist‘s oeuvre also includes tapestries of a monumental scale, screens, meditation tables and prints, all marked by an exceptional sensitivity to colour, form and material, and betraying a deep interest in oriental aesthetics.
16 February – 18 May, IMMA
4. Eva Rothschild: The first solo museum presentation in Ireland of this remarkable Dublin-born, London based artist. Using such diverse materials as leather, paper, Plexiglas, wood and metal, and referencing the minimalism and post-minimalism of the 1960s and 70s, Rothschild creates installations which become embodied spaces rather than traditional self-contained sculptures. In the artist‘s opinion, “The ideal way to look at art is to be permanently confused”, so prepare for tension-filled works which appear to defy gravity and transcend their physical limitations.
23 May – 28 September, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane
5. 184th Annual Exhibition: The oldest running open submission exhibition in the country, and without doubt one of the major events in the Irish art scene. More than half of the works will be selected by a panel of academicians from that open submission call, giving us a chance to see new and upcoming artists alongside RHA members and other well-established figures. All exhibitors will be in the running for a hefty prize fund ranging across the categories of work on view, including painting, sculpture, print, photography and architecture. Most artworks will also be for sale, so if you are lucky enough to be contemplating an art collection of your own, this is as good a time as any to get it started.
26 May – 17 August, RHA Gallery
