This might not be local to Ireland and not everyone will see it but I was lucky enough to be able to visit this exhibition of sheer creativity, originality and down right beauty. ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ illuminated an already sun kissed beach in Perth Australia.
The aim of this blog is not intended to make you run to the nearest travel agent and invest in new flip flops but rather demonstrate the theory that artists and designers have been expressing for generations, Art is not restricted to a canvas, nor confined within four wall of a national museum.
The Annual ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ turns iconic Cottesloe Beach into an open-air art gallery and this year exhibited 64 pieces by 60 different artists, each with their own take on what signified beauty to them. Local artist Geoffery Drake-Brockman's sculpture is a solar powered counter. Everyone that walks through its archway will improve the tally. Not to mention the kids who ran through it about twenty times in five minutes. "It's about the individual's choice as to whether they are counted or not," he said. To some this is seen as a statement about surveillance, or they can just see it as light-hearted. Argentinian artist Alejandro Propato is one of these international artists. His piece - Arte de las Playas was easily the largest of the displays, with over 20 coloured flags flying over the sand. His manipulation of the wind as it fought its way through the flags to me represented his respect for nature and how life can be the exhibition itself.
Other pieces on display include a large caterpillar-like creation made entirely of colourful bottle tops, an invisible shed and a pearl necklace made of crayfish floats. A truly remarkable exhibition of space, colour, natures elements and most of undeniable beauty that in my view is a shame to take down.
PS Lee submitted this blog while on extended holidays in Australia. True dedication! Dave.
I'm a big fan of JP Donleavy and his book 'The Ginger Man'. He was interviewed on Off The Ball on Newstalk recently and there's no doubt that he's some character. He's had a varied and colourful career and seems to have been a boxer of some quality. In his youth he was an undefeated amateur welterweight and met with Joe Frazier among others.
One career that I wasn't aware of was his painting and drawing. As he lives in Ireland he has exhibited here several times and he is currently showing work in The Molesworth Gallery. His work is definitely like his writing - unique and quite offbeat at times! It's very interesting stuff though and if you're in Dublin worth dropping into.
And if you have a thousand euro or so lying around the place why not buy a piece or two!
Some of the most stunning and remarkable pieces of beauty are found where they are not supposed to be. Recent examples that spring to mind are the Tara Brooch and Ardagh chalice.
These pieces are an integral part of our Irish history but what about things that were not never intended to be recognised as beautiful. Buildings, and more importantly, ruins are the visible evidence that architectural beauty can mould our societies and document their changes. Building ruins are essentially the documentation of change that happened at every point in history, the volatile result of change, the left-overs of eras gone by and the fall of empires.
These structures effect on our landscape often go unnoticed in the sense that they are frowned upon as diminishing the standard of our cities. However, like many things in life and especially art, you need to be able to think laterally and be open to alternative visual stimulus. Photographers like Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre understand the relevance and beauty within these buildings. Admire them or loath them, these structures will certainly question the permanence of things. Nowadays, our cities are littered with these structures; they are the full stops that inhabit our idyllic view of how we believe our cities should look. Maybe in time these splendid decaying monuments will be viewed as “no less than the Pyramids of Egypt, the Colosseum of Rome, or the Acropolis in Athens, remnants of the passing of a great civilization”.
I recently popped down to The National Gallery with a friend to see the exhibition of Edvard Munch's prints. Munch, as I'm sure all readers will know, is the artist who famously created 'The Scream'. He also produced many prints of his works and a sizeable collection of them are gathered here. The exhibition is dark in every sense of the word, even down to the dim lighting which protects the condition of the prints.
Looking at the works it is easy to see how Munch was the artist responsible for 'The Scream'. Troubled would probably be an understatement and it was obvious, without reading his biography, that he'd had some sort of breakdown. The exhibition is very well laid out (unlike the National Gallery's website!) and is reasonably priced at €5 although we were admitted for €3 on Friday lunchtime for some reason. Looking at a lot of the prints, Munch seemed to have huge difficulties with human relationships. Take the print above (Vampire II) for example. The woman is draining Munch of all his vitality and he is in a position of abject misery. Isolation is another feeling that can be sensed from a lot of the works. Joy Division would be a perfect soundtrack for this exhibition!
Overall, this collection is well worth taking a look at and hats off to The National Gallery for an excellent exhibition and also a brilliant restaurant. They just need to get that website sorted now!
Local artist Geoffery Drake-Brockman's sculpture is a solar powered counter. Everyone that walks through its archway will improve the tally. Not to mention the kids who ran through it about twenty times in five minutes. "It's about the individual's choice as to whether they are counted or not," he said. To some this is seen as a statement about surveillance, or they can just see it as light-hearted.
Argentinian artist Alejandro Propato is one of these international artists. His piece - Arte de las Playas was easily the largest of the displays, with over 20 coloured flags flying over the sand. His manipulation of the wind as it fought its way through the flags to me represented his respect for nature and how life can be the exhibition itself.
I'm a big fan of JP Donleavy and his book 'The Ginger Man'. He was interviewed on Off The Ball on Newstalk recently and there's no doubt that he's some character. He's had a varied and colourful career and seems to have been a boxer of some quality. In his youth he was an undefeated amateur welterweight and met with Joe Frazier among others.
