Art in the city: 110 contemporary artists to exhibit on Dame Street, Dublin

Exhibitions in Dublin this month include Páipear on Dame Street and Outrageous, Obscene and Offensive at the Olivier Cornet Gallery

Claire Halpin, Libricide at the Olivier Cornet Gallery: The show, which is a Bloomsday and Summer 2022 exhibition, focuses on the theme of censorship. Photograph: Agency Stock
Claire Halpin, Libricide at the Olivier Cornet Gallery: The show, which is a Bloomsday and Summer 2022 exhibition, focuses on the theme of censorship. Photograph: Agency Stock

A visual arts exhibition of more than 110 contemporary artists will open this Friday, July 15th at Central Plaza on Dublin’s Dame Street. Entitled Páipear, all artists have been invited to create a new work on paper exclusively for the exhibition which will run until September.

It is supported by Hines and organised by Hang Tough Contemporary, an art gallery on Exchequer Street, which describes the show as “museum scale” with pastels, mixed media, painting, drawings and spray painted works.

Artists featured include Lola Donoghue, Vanessa Jones, Joy Gerrard, Aches, Blaise Drummond, Chloe Early, Colm Mac Athlaoich, James Kirwan, Una Sealy, Alison Pilkington, James Earley, David Hedderman and Maser. Also showing is Salvatore of Lucan, who won the Zurich Portrait Prize in 2021 for Me Ma Healing Me, a large-scale work of his mother performing Reiki.

Currently exhibiting at the Solomon Fine Art Gallery, next door to the Westbury Hotel on Balfe Street, is the first solo show of recent works by Michael Wann. Entitled Void Pastoral, the charcoal and wash works are incredible – both in stature and detail. Selected for the Tom Caldwell Drawing Prize, Wann was awarded the AXA Insurance Drawing Prize in 2008 along with the ESB Sean Keating Prize and RHA Silver Medal in 2016.

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Charcoal works by Michael Wann are currently on show at the Solomon Fine Art Gallery in Dublin
Charcoal works by Michael Wann are currently on show at the Solomon Fine Art Gallery in Dublin

Dublin-born Wann studied at Sligo IT, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art in 2003, and has been exhibited widely throughout the country. His work is included in public collections including Mayo County Council, Waterford Municipal Collection, the Office of Public Works and the Ballinglen Archive. The exhibition runs until July 30th.

Over at the Kerlin Gallery on South Anne Street in Dublin, the first solo exhibition in Ireland by Shenzhen-based artist Zhou Li is currently open. Entitled Water and Dreams, the body of work focuses on the universal motif of water “drawing upon its rich cultural symbolism and complex representations throughout art history, religion and mythology”.

Zhou Li, Landscape of Nowhere at the Kerlin Gallery
Zhou Li, Landscape of Nowhere at the Kerlin Gallery

Born in Hunan and having lived in Paris from 1996, Zhou Li returned to China in 2003, where she was part of critically acclaimed museum shows including the Yuz Museum, Shanghai, the Hive Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou and Pingshan Art Museum, Shenzhen. The Dublin exhibition runs in tandem with her solo show at Château La Coste, Aix-en-Provence, until August 20st.

Running until July 31st is Outrageous, Obscene and Offensive at the Olivier Cornet Gallery on Denmark Street. The show, which is a Bloomsday and Summer 2022 exhibition, focuses on the theme of censorship with artists including Yanny Peters, Susanne Wawra, Aisling Conroy, Mary A Fitzgerald and David Fox.

The gallery, which each year curates a thematic exhibition for the Bloomsday Festival, marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses in Paris. Running until July 31st, the show is also available online in a 3D virtual space on the gallery’s website.

Currently open until February 2022, the Otolith Group: Xenogenesis at Imma brings together a significant body of pioneering work from the London based artist collective.

imma.ie, kerlin.ie, solomonfineart.ie, oliviercornetgallery.com, hangtoughcontemporary.com

Elizabeth Birdthistle

Elizabeth Birdthistle

Elizabeth Birdthistle, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about property, fine arts, antiques and collectables