On the Town: This year will be the first time Ireland is represented by a group of artists rather than an individual at the 51st Venice Art Biennale.
All seven artists - Stephen Brandes, Mark Garry, Ronan McCrea, Isabel Nolan, Sarah Pierce and twin brothers Pat and Joe Walker - are busy getting ready for the opening on Sunday, June 12th, but they came to a reception at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin this week to mark their participation in the summer-long exhibition.
"Their work is all very different but I'm really confident that they will show to the international audience the diversity of work being made here," said Sarah Glennie, Ireland's commissioner to the biennale. "There is no link [in their work] only in that they represent what is current. I haven't tried to make any connections between them."
"Our seven artists will participate, along with colleagues from 72 other countries, in one of the most important occasions on the international arts calendar," said Mary Cloake, director of the Arts Council, when she spoke at IMMA. The opportunity at the Venice Biennale "to work in an international context is a crucial element in any artist's development", she said.
Up to a quarter of a million visitors "will gain a real appreciation of the quality of Irish art, the diversity of its forms and the accomplishment of its practitioners," said John O'Donoghue, the Minister for Arts.
"It's a hugely important event in the art world," said one of the participants, Isabel Nolan. Among those who came to salute the young artists as they prepare for the prestigious event in Italy were fellow artists Gerard Mannix Flynn, David McDermott and Seán Hillen, who was also looking forward to the opening of the new Stone Gallery on Dublin's Pearse Street the next night.