OnTheTown: Paintings by Brian Ranalow "are more than the depiction of landscapes", said Enrique Juncosa, director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
"I find the work quite interesting because . . . he treats nature not as a passive object but as a more difficult thing to handle," said Juncosa when he opened an exhibition of new work by Ranalow at the Hallward Gallery in Dublin this week.
Ranalow "paints on top of a texture", Juncosa went on. This technique results in the painter's vision becoming "more important than the depiction of the landscape". Juncosa also praised Ranalow for putting the paintings in square frames, "which is quite unusual for a landscape" and makes them stronger. Ranalow, he added, "seems like a contradiction . . . He is a very successful businessman and a painter". Ranalow is chairman of H&K International, a catering equipment manufacturing company.
Among those who attended the opening were Fr Joseph Brennan SJ, of Gonzaga College; Rita Hughes, of Hughes & Hughes Booksellers; and PR consultant Róisín O'Hea and journalist Carmel Higgins with their friends, Claire Nestor, from Cork, and Rose O'Farrell, from Greystones, Co Wicklow.
Artists at the opening included Jackie Stanley, Campbell Bruce, Maria Simmonds-Gooding and photographic artist Ruth McHugh, whose work will be on view at her solo show, Place, in Dublin's Peppercanister Gallery later this month.
"He's a lovely colourist," said former chairman of the Arts Council Patrick Murphy. "He's developing his vision . . . He prepares all his boards in a very individual way." Murphy was at the opening with his wife, Antoinette Murphy, of the Peppercanister Gallery.
Also present were members of Ranalow's family, including his wife, Elsa, their son, Stephen, and daughter, Elena, the artist's mother, Eva, and his brother, Frank.
Brian Ranalow's exhibition runs at the Hallward Gallery, 65 Merrion Square South, Dublin 2, until Thur, Apr 21