Iontas 1997 - Notes by selector Shelagh Hourahane

Although Iontas has four categories of work one of the most interesting aspects of the exhibition will be the many instances when boundaries are crossed between those categories. This may displease some of you who visit the exhibition if you believe that strength lies in traditionalism and in working within the rules. Artists have always broken the rules in order to develop new ideas and since we live in a time when traditions in all aspects of living are constantly under revision, we should consider breaking some artistic ones now and then. Generally I was surprised and rather disappointed that large proportion of the entries followed predictable paths, although many of these were explored with confidence and produced commendable works. The winning painting by Charles Harper, Boat View (12), is a beautifully balanced figurative painting in which the subtle description of subject, space and movement through a mixture of geometry and tonal control, exploits fundamentally traditional skills.

Orla Egan's East Town Tory Island in the 1930s (6), is another example of an artist who has worked successfully within a defined tradition. In my opinion, the traditions of abstract painting were handled less well and more frequently relied on out-worn solutions.

Works which do cross boundaries are included in each section, but it was probably most rewarding to find these among the prints. Aoife Desmond's The Travel Case (50) is strongly nostalgic, and has a powerful theme about travel and the discovery of "otherness" in cultures, which has almost lost its reality to us now. The collection and reuse of photographic images is combined with methods of drawing, collage and presentation to make an integrated statement. In a different spirit, Piia Rossi's Garden Icon (55) has intriguingly grafted graphic techniques onto the practice of the miniature artist.

Iontas 1997 is a small exhibition, the result of severe cutting in the final stages of the selection process. We made a decision to present you with an exhibition in which everything measures up to the standards and purposes which I have discussed above. In doing this we were aware that we have left out many works which appealed to us and which could have found a place in another context. This exhibition is intended to be coherent, so that the works chosen have numerous links between them, allowing the viewer to move from one to the other with excitement and a growing sense of understanding of the diversity within the unity.

When making the selection we had something of a vision of how the 1997 Iontas might look. The successful realisation of that vision and of making it accessible to you, the audience, will be the work of Ronan MacEvilly and the staff of the galleries in which it shown.

Shelagh Hourahane

Please note: Art displayed for past exhibitions may no longer be available. Please click on the "Art Currently Available By This Artist" button to view all our current holdings by this artist.
Alternatively, our mailing list will notify you of new works and exhibitions for all artists you express an interest in.