richard gorman, paintings and prints
TRANSCRIPT
Irish Arts Review
RICHARD GORMAN, PAINTINGS AND PRINTSIrish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 28, No. 3 (AUTUMN [SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2011]), p. 140Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23049524 .
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AUTUMN 2011
CATALOGUES
RHA181ST ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2011 ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY, DUBLIN, 2011 PR 96 FULLY ILLUSTRATED P/B a20.00 ISBN: 1 -903875-59-5
The annual catalogues have settled
into an established format. The key
element is a list of all of the works
exhibited together with a goodly
selection of mainly colour images
buttressed by a number of essays, in
this case S B Kennedy's obituary of
T P Flanagan, Eimear O'Connor's
outline of the contents of the RHA
archives which she has recently
recatalogued, and Mick O'Dea's
'photo-essay' on the RHA School. It
is, however, a real pity that nobody
bothered about the reference value.
There is no list of illustrations, and
even the list of exhibits is not cross
referenced to them, so if you are
looking for a particular artist -
THE ART
FLOATING RHA ANNUA FINNIN
shapes, placed against coloured
backgrounds. These have jokey titles
like My Life as a Lettuce Labeller.
These white images might be a joke,
or might not, but if they really are
paintings, then the 'reproductions'
which look like geometric units of
white page surrounded by a coloured
border, give one no information
whatsoever. There is a short CV, and
a brief note by Sue Hubbard which
fails to elucidate. Perhaps best
regarded as a quirky artist's book.
RICHARD GORMAN, PAINTINGS AND PRINTS MITKA CITY GALLERY OF ART, JAPAN, 2010 PP 162, ILLS 65 COL P/B NO ISBN
In effect this is a retrospective of
Gorman's work between 2002 and
2010. The reproductions look
of 'Sometime', with occasional tipped
in notes on the work by the artist.
Sandwiched in-between are a block of
identified paintings, a brief note on
the artist by Oliver Sears, a short
essay by Ciaran Benson, a CV, and
the publication details! Beug is an
American artist long resident in
Ireland. Worth buying.
BARRIE COOKE IRISH MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, DUBLIN, 2011 PP 162 ILLS 82 COL H/B P35.00 ISBN: 978-1843511-96-0
Handsomely produced, with good if
somewhat variable plates, an excellent
exhibition chronology and equally
excellent bibliography, and a list of
illustrations which is cross-referenced
to the appropriate page numbers, this
is one of IMMA's better reference
assuming that you know that he or
she is illustrated - you have to flick
through the entire catalogue.
THE FORGOTTEN ART OF FLOATING: MARTIN FINNIN CORN EXCHANGE GALLERY, EDINBURGH. 2011 PP 52 FULLY ILLUSTRATED P/B NO ISBN
Finnin is a largely abstract painter
from Cork. That said, it is difficult to
gauge just whom this catalogue is
aimed at. There are a large number of
untitled colour illustrations, of
various sizes and shapes, placed
against a white background, some of
them so tiny that one wonders why
the artist bothered. There are a series
of blank white pages and a series of
seemingly identical all-over white
images, again of various sizes and
impressive, there is a cross-referenced
list of works together with a practical
artist's note and three essays, one by
Aidan Dunne which is useful for the
parallel he draws between the artist's
use of colour and that of the four
colour map theorem, and two by
Japanese curators. The translations
(and especially that of the second essay)
are poor but this is worth buying, if
you can get hold of it, for the plates.
KATHERINE BOUCHER BEUG: SOMETIME OLIVER SEARS GALLERY. DUBLIN, 2011 PP 96 FULLY ILLUSTRATED P/B alO.OO ISBN: 978-0-9565485-0-3
This very attractive publication is
closer in feel to an artist's book than
to a catalogue. At the beginning, and
the end, we have blocks of
unidentified images under the rubric
catalogues. There are four main texts:
a lyrical rhapsody by Seamus Heaney;
a methodical outline of the work by
Karen Sweeney; an entertaining
interview by Dorothy Cross; and an
unreferenced text by Brian Dillon.
The texts (none of which approach
the quality of, say, Aidan Dunne's
1968 Douglas Hyde catalogue) don't
really reference the exhibition itself.
There is no exploration of the marked
difference in quality between the early
and late nudes for example.
The exhibition itself was very much
a curate's egg. Impossible to tell
whether it was just badly selected or
whether they showed whatever they
could easily borrow. Cooke is a much
better artist than this exhibition
would seem to indicate.®
BRIAN McAVERA is an art critic.
UO IRISH ARTS REVIEW I AUTUMN 2011
CATALOGUES
RHA181ST ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2011 ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY, DUBLIN. 2011 PP 96 FULLY ILLUSTRATED P/B a20.00 ISBN: 1-903875-59-5
The annual catalogues have settled
into an established format. The key
element is a list of all of the works
exhibited together with a goodly
selection of mainly colour images
buttressed by a number of essays, in
this case S B Kennedy's obituary of
T P Flanagan, Eimear O'Connor's
outline of the contents of the RHA
archives which she has recently
recatalogued, and Mick O'Dea's
'photo-essay' on the RHA School. It
is, however, a real pity that nobody
bothered about the reference value.
There is no list of illustrations, and
even the list of exhibits is not cross
referenced to them, so if you are
looking for a particular artist -
assuming that you know that he or
she is illustrated - you have to flick
through the entire catalogue.
THE FORGOTTEN ART OF FLOATING: MARTIN FINNIN CORN EXCHANGE GALLERY, EDINBURGH, 2011 PP 52 FULLY ILLUSTRATED P/B NO ISBN
Finnin is a largely abstract painter
from Cork. That said, it is difficult to
gauge just whom this catalogue is
aimed at. There are a large number of
untitled colour illustrations, of
various sizes and shapes, placed
against a white background, some of
them so tiny that one wonders why
the artist bothered. There are a series
of blank white pages and a series of
seemingly identical all-over white
images, again of various sizes and
shapes, placed against coloured
backgrounds. These have jokey titles
like My Life as a Lettuce Labeller.
These white images might be a joke,
or might not, but if they really are
paintings, then the 'reproductions'
which look like geometric units of
white page surrounded by a coloured
border, give one no information
whatsoever. There is a short CV, and
a brief note by Sue Hubbard which
fails to elucidate. Perhaps best
regarded as a quirky artist's book.
RICHARD GORMAN, PAINTINGS AND PRINTS MITKA CITY GALLERY OF ART, JAPAN, 2010 PP 162. ILLS 65 COL P/B NO ISBN
In effect this is a retrospective of
Gorman's work between 2002 and
2010. The reproductions look
impressive, there is a cross-referenced
list of works together with a practical
artist's note and three essays, one by
Aidan Dunne which is useful for the
parallel he draws between the artist's
use of colour and that of the four
colour map theorem, and two by
Japanese curators. The translations
(and especially that of the second essay)
are poor but this is worth buying, if
you can get hold of it, for the plates.
KATHERINE BOUCHER BEUG: SOMETIME OLIVER SEARS GALLERY, DUBLIN, 2011 PP 96 FULLY ILLUSTRATED P/B alO.OO ISBN: 978-0-9565485-0-3
This very attractive publication is
closer in feel to an artist's book than
to a catalogue. At the beginning, and
the end, we have blocks of
unidentified images under the rubric
of 'Sometime', with occasional tipped
in notes on the work by the artist.
Sandwiched in-between are a block of
identified paintings, a brief note on
the artist by Oliver Sears, a short
essay by Ciaran Benson, a CV, and
the publication details! Beug is an
American artist long resident in
Ireland. Worth buying.
BARRIE COOKE IRISH MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. DUBLIN. 2011 PP 162 ILLS 82 COLH/B n35.00 ISBN: 978-184-3511 -96-0
Handsomely produced, with good if
somewhat variable plates, an excellent
exhibition chronology and equally
excellent bibliography, and a list of
illustrations which is cross-referenced
to the appropriate page numbers, this
is one of IMMA's better reference
catalogues. There are four main texts:
a lyrical rhapsody by Seamus Heaney;
a methodical outline of the work by
Karen Sweeney; an entertaining
interview by Dorothy Cross; and an
unreferenced text by Brian Dillon.
The texts (none of which approach
the quality of, say, Aidan Dunne's
1968 Douglas Hyde catalogue) don't
really reference the exhibition itself.
There is no exploration of the marked
difference in quality between the early
and late nudes for example.
The exhibition itself was very much
a curate's egg. Impossible to tell
whether it was just badly selected or
whether they showed whatever they
could easily borrow. Cooke is a much
better artist than this exhibition
would seem to indicate. ■
BRIAN McAVERA is an art critic.
This content downloaded from 62.122.73.185 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 13:36:10 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions