On the Town: The queues started in the afternoon, snaking down towards Fleet Street. When the doors of the Temple Bar Gallery and Studios (TBGS) opened at 6 p.m. all eyes were on the bargains. The walls were lined with more than 200 works of art, each for sale at €300.
Each piece of art submitted by a wide range of established and emerging artists was on a flat panel of canvas, board or perspex, and measured 36 centimetres square.
Joe Mulholland, the former managing director of RTÉ television, whose book of 30 essays based on contributions to Magill Summer Schools over the past 23 years has just been published, was there with his daughter, artist Fiona Mulholland. Her work was on view, but, in keeping with the idea of the show to only reveal the identity of each artist after their work was sold, she did not point it out. Her painting, she said, is similar in theme to the commemorative tower of life-jackets she was commissioned to design as a tribute to the lifeboat men (aka "hobblers"), which was erected on Dún Laoghaire pier last year.
Beth O'Halloran's painting was nearby too. The picture, she hinted, was about being lost, "which is probably indicative of my state of mind".
Among those who attended opening night were: Peter Feeney, head of public affairs at RTÉ, with his wife, Mary, and their sons, Owen and Niall ; Willie White, director of the Project, with his wife, Gilly Clarke, and artist Gerard Dowling, whose own studio is in Middle Abbey Street.
"The option of three media [canvas, board or perspex] means that it's a better show than last year," Marian Lovett, director of the TBGS, pointed out. "Artists are really pleased to be in it . . . We are not trying to devalue anybody's art or reputation. It's a once-off."
The show is called 50/50, with 50 per cent of proceeds from sales going to the artists and the rest going towards the upkeep of the gallery and studios. The show includes work by Robert Ballagh, Cecily Brennan, John Cronin, Jaki Irvine, Fergus Martin, Michael Kane, Noel Sheridan and Madeline Moore, whose work is currently on show at the Return Gallery in the Goethe-Institut Dublin until Monday, January 12th. Another artist featured in the TBGS exhibition is Michael Boran.
"It's a really exciting show and a large percentage of the work is ridiculously cheap," he said. "They are bargains really. The only thing is there are no names. It gets people to buy what they like, not by names. It's democratic."
50/50 runs at the Temple Bar Gallery and Studios until Monday