Wednesday night saw the opening of Louise Neiland's second exhibition in the Jo Rain gallery and as usual, a whole crew of young artists had flooded into Kevin Kavanagh's show space. There was obviously a fair few Neiland fans in the throng as the square canvases were being snapped up very quickly indeed. Other artists included James Hanley, Beth O'Halloran - who is opening her own show in New York in March - Mark Pepper and Stephen Rinn - who exhibited in the Jo Rain last year - and Laura Gannon, who will be exhibiting there come September. Sculptor Laurent Mellet came along later in the evening; besides working on numerous commissions and a float for the St Patrick's Day parade which will mix a giant bed, a 20-foot hot-air balloon and commedia d'el arte, he also put in a few days on the Spice Girls video. Not, admittedly, a usual job for a sculptor but then not every sculptor has a collection of vintage Land Rovers. Laurent was employed to drive the five Spicy ones around the Wicklow hills for the cameras in his old, open-topped jeep, and was also given the job of knife-grinder because, he said, he "looked scruffy enough".
Another sculptor, Orla de Bri, was also checking out the work on Wednesday evening; she is preparing for her own exhibition which will open in the Origin gallery next Thursday.
Roma Ryan, the songwriter who has penned odes for the likes of the highly successful Enya, popped in, as did Cuban dancer Abel Herrera. As well as giving lessons in salsa and so on, Abel is planning a big, Brazilian-style carneval for February 26th; called Cubanismo, it will take place in Republica nightclub on Kildare Street. Get those Cuban heels ready.