Who is the Other?

I was watching the film “Basquiat” about the street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and his fraught collaboration with Andy Warhol, a leading figure in the American art world of the last century.

Both of them worked in turn on the same canvas and I remember Warhol was quite miffed when Basquiat painted a big sloppy red mark over a carefully painted section by Warhol. Ah well, I suppose that’s what can happen when one is collaborating with others.

And we’ve been at it ourselves. “Concerning the Other” is an art project that involves 10 artists working together over each other’s work. All of the artists started off with one image and passed it on to the next artist to work on – and the whole process continued until each artist had worked over all ten images. We’re nearly finished now – we’ve all reached stage 10.

Yes, and I added a portrait that I’d painted of Charlotte Fien (see above) to the collage. This collage had started off with a profile of Kate Murphy’s daughter but then some of the following artists introduced references to the Nazis and to various eugenics programmes. So, if you’re wondering who Charlotte Fien is, she is a young English woman with Down syndrome who delivered a moving speech to the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations in March this year.

The artists involved with “Concerning the Other” were: James Hanley RHA, Brian Fay, Claire Halpin, Joanna Kidney, Gail Ritchie, Miriam McConnon, Kate Murphy, Ben Readman, Susanne Wawra and myself, and the project was curated by Olivier Cornet, Claire Halpin and me.

The final ten artworks along with a selected number of ‘in-between’ images will be exhibited at the Olivier Cornet Gallery in September 2017. The exhibition entitled: Concerning the Other will also feature individual works by the participating artists.

It will be officially opened on Sunday 10th of September by Patrick T. Murphy, Director of the RHA Gallagher Gallery.

There’s a lot more information about the project on our Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/ConcerningtheOther/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

And of course, your comments are always welcome here!

 

Stories on the wind

Crocosmia is the official name for that exuberant roadside flower that blooms all over the west of Ireland. (We call it Feileastram in Irish, or Montbretia).  It actually comes from southern and eastern Africa but it has adapted impressively to our misty shores and it now flourishes in the hedgerows adding a luxurious splash of orange colour to the verdant Irish countryside .

Crocosmia is also the name of a group of writers and poets who are seeking asylum here in Ireland.

Today I want to tell you about a collaborative art project between the artist Clodagh Emoe and the poets of Crocosmia. It all started in the garden of the Spirasi Centre – Spirasi is the intercultural NGO that works with refugees, asylum seekers and disadvantaged migrant groups in Ireland.

Audio work by Clodagh Emoe on the boardwalk, Dublin City Centre  (photo Clodagh Emoe)

A weekly gardening session led to the creation of a shared space of equality and a mutually supportive environment. Storytelling developed naturally in this environment and this led to a series of audio works that were subsequently transmitted on the river Liffey, the Lee, the Corrib and the Barrow.

The audio works were sited in specific places along the rivers, on bridges and boardwalks, ‘in-between’ places evoking the precarious situation of each of the writers. Voices in Croatian, French, Kinyarwanda, Luganada and Urdu could be heard on the wind, revealing the hidden narrative of the asylum seekers’ stories.

The project was also presented at Visual, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Carlow and then, just recently, a beautiful collection of poems was launched in the Pearse Street Library in Dublin. The poems are complemented by drawings which show the various contours of the countries wherein they are set, the empty linear forms perhaps echoing the experience of the asylum seeker “disconnected from their homeland.”

“I believe that art offers an alternate perspective”, writes Clodagh Emoe, “one that allows us to re-imagine our world. In re-imagining our world, we question the status quo, opening up the possibility of embracing difference.”

As I’ve written before – in these days of global conflict, mounting racism and intolerance, artists can lead the way in promoting diversity and showing concern for minorities.

http://www.clodaghemoe.com/

https://fundit.ie/project/activity/concerning-the-other

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

http://spirasi.ie/about/

 

A most special place

Well, you probably know already that County Sligo is the most beautiful and interesting county in all of Ireland.

And you probably know about the poet W.B. Yeats and his connections with Sligo, about the lake water lapping around the isle of Inishfree, about bare Benbulben’s head and about the clouds bundling high over Knocknarea…

And then there’s the mysterious megalithic sites of Carrowmore, Carrowkeel and Creevykeel. There’s Queen Maeve’s tomb and the place where the unfortunate Diarmuid was killed by a wild boar…

There’s the holy wells, the secret valleys, the shady woodlands and glorious beaches; there’s the heart-warming new film entitled: Halal Daddy and much, much more…

Well, luckily for me, I’m taking a trip up there soon – for the Cairde Arts festival.

This is a festival that has been going from strength to strength since its inception and the Cairde open-submission exhibition, now in its fourth year, is my main reason for visiting this particular time.

This year the exhibition is entitled: The Model presents Cairde Visual because it has expanded once again and moved into the Model, one of Ireland’s leading centres for contemporary art. The selection panel was Patrick Murphy, Mark Garry, Barra Cassidy, Emer Mc Garry and Lorna Watkins.

There is a wide range of subjects and media from national and international artists and I’m delighted to reveal that my own painting entitled: Tinteán Tréigthe no. 29 (seen above) has been selected for inclusion this year.

The exhibition continues until the 6th of August.

http://cairdefestival.com/

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

PS: if, by any chance, you think that there’s a more beautiful or more interesting county, then by all means, let me know and drop me a comment 🙂

They don’t make them like they used to

Okay, the bad news was that the post office put up the price of stamps again so that my stash of Christmas 72c stamps was now insufficient – but the good news is that the new 28c stamps feature ancient treasures from the collection of the National Museum of Ireland.

If you ever get the chance, make sure you visit this museum in Kildare Street, Dublin. It’s hard to believe the skill of those early Irish craftsmen (or craftswomen).

For instance, there’s the Tara Brooch (see my sketch below), named after the Hill of Tara, seat of the High Kings of Ireland, although there doesn’t seem to be any connection to either the hill or the High Kings – it was apparently discovered on a beach at Bettystown, County Meath by ‘a peasant woman’.

It was first displayed at The Great Exhibition in London in 1851 and then at the Paris Exposition Universelle. In 1872, it was added to the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, which later transferred it to the National Museum of Ireland where it remains today.

The National Museum notes that it is made of cast and gilt silver and is elaborately decorated on both faces. The front is ornamented with a series of unbelievably fine gold filigree panels depicting animal and abstract motifs, separated by studs of glass, enamel, and amber. The motifs on the back consist of scrolls and spirals and recall the La Tène decoration of the Iron Age.

As for the ‘peasant woman’, there’s all sorts of theories about who she was and where she actually found it but all she would say was something like –

Och! but I’m weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there’s never a house nor a bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!

Only joking. Actually that was from a poem entitled An Old Woman of the Roads, by Pádraic Colum. My brother and his wife are making a film about this poem at the moment and I’m really looking forward to seeing it.

Slán go fóillín.  Your comments are always welcome, thanks, eoin

http://www.museum.ie/Home

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

 

Sketching on the Island of Adventure

Well, that was the best idea I had for a long time! Last weekend Fionnuala and I went out to Ireland’s Eye, a wild and wonderful island, just north of Howth Head in Co. Dublin.

I hadn’t been there since I was a boy and, to tell you the truth, I was a bit afraid that I’d be disappointed, that the cliffs wouldn’t be high, that the strand wouldn’t be long, that the seabirds would all be gone, but no – it was just as I remembered – it was just like our ‘island of adventure’.

My Dad had a recitation all about it. We all knew most of the lines by heart. It was about a young couple who rowed out to the island for the day… Happy memories.

We had our sandwiches watching the Gannets wheeling around the sea stack. What a place to build your home! It’s nesting season at the moment so the seagulls are fiercely protecting their nests. (Yes, we were very careful.) We saw Cormorants feeding their young in the strange way that they do (see above). The chick actually sticks its head down the parent’s throat!

It was wonderful to sit there on the island and watch the ever-moving, turquoise sea. I did some sketching, something I haven’t done in a while.

Evening came. I stood up. “I suppose we’d better be heading back to Howth”, says I. “Howth be jiggers”, said Fionnuala, “let’s go on to Lambay!”

PS:  Speaking of sketching, there’s a great exhibition entitled: There’s a touch of the artist about old Bloom on at the Olivier Cornet Gallery this week. It’s a visual response to James Joyce’s Ulysses – sketching on location in the Parnell Square Cultural Quarter. Curated by Olivier Cornet, Jessica Peel-Yates and Marie-Hélène Brohan Delhaye, it’s the result of a four-day sketching event exploring the fabric of Joyce’s Dublin.

https://www.facebook.com/events/234522767037941

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

 

 

Have you heard about Crazy Jane?

As part of the annual Yeats Day celebrations this year, the Hamilton Gallery in Sligo have organised an exhibition of small works by over 90 contemporary artists who based their artworks on Crazy Jane, that strange character that appears in a couple of poems by William Butler Yeats.

This is the third and final iteration of the gallery’s Annual Invited Artists’ exhibition and it was opened on Tuesday by Professor Seán Golden.

My contribution is seen above, entitled: “Last night I lay on the mountain…”  Oh, sometimes I just feel like going up to the mountains and staying there until it’s all sorted out…  But, as I say, there are all sorts of good works in the show this year, as you can see from Emma Stroude’s photograph below (thanks for posting Emma).

By the way,  have you checked out the Concerning the Other facebook page recently?  It’s really interesting to see how ten contemporary artists are responding to all the changes that are going on around us these days.

https://www.facebook.com/ConcerningtheOther/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

https://hamiltongallery.ie/

And of course, your comments are always welcome here – poetic or otherwise!

An Chuid eile / Concerning the Other

Gentleness, Solidarity, Diversity  – scroll down to read the English.

Ba mhaith liom a rá leat faoi thogra ealaíne atá á eagrú agam le Olivier Cornet agus Claire Halpin.  “An Chuid eile / Concerning the Other” an teideal a chuir muid air agus tháinig an smaoineamh chugainn mar go bhfuil an méad sin drochnuachta le cloisteáil na laethanta seo – idir an chiníochas, an easaontas agus an éadulaingt – mheas muid gur bhfiú dúinn rud eicint dearfa a dhéanamh le muintearas a chothú sa phobail.

Sa togra seo, tá deichniúr ealaíontóirí chomhaimseartha ag comhoibriú le chéile ar 10 phíosaí ealaíne éagsúla ionas go mbeidh 100 saothar ealaíne againn ag deireadh. Thosaigh gach ealaíontóir ar phíosa amháin agus sheol sé nó sí é ar aghaidh go dtí an dara ealaíontóir. D’oibrigh an dara ealaíontóir air ansin agus sheol sé nó sí é sin ar aghaidh go dtí an 3ú ealaíontóir agus mar sin de… Ag deireadh beidh gach duine tar éis oibriú ar ghach phíosa ealaíne.

Cén fáth? Bhuel, bíonn sé deacair uaireanta, comhoibriú le daoine eile ach – nach fiú go mór é?  ‘Siad na h-ealaíontóirí atá i gceist ná: Brian Fay, Claire Halpin, James Hanley, Joanna Kidney, Miriam McConnon, Kate Murphy, Ben Readman, Gail Ritchie, Susanne Wawra agus mise.

Beidh taispeántas againn i mí Meán Fómhair i nGailearaí Olivier Cornet i mBleá Cliath agus beidh roinnt costaisí ag baint leis agus mar sin tá muid tar éis feachtas “Fundit” a chur ar bun le cabhair a lorg. Bheimis an-bhuíoch díot dá bhféadfá tacaíocht ar bith a thabhairt dúinn. Má éiríonn linn níos mó ná an sprioc-iomlán a shroisint, úsáidfidh muid an t-airgead breise le catalóg a fhoilsiú.

Tá gach eolas le fáil ag:   https://fundit.ie/project/concerning-the-other

Agus tá leathnach speisialta againn ag:  https://www.facebook.com/ConcerningtheOther/

Tá mé tar éis cúpla sampla den saothar ealaíne atá ag eascairt ón togra seo a thaispeáint anseo ach beidh go leor eile ag teacht de réir a chéile.

Slán go fóill agus go raibh míle maith agat!

Showing Solidarity…

We seem to have struck a cord with the theme of this project – Concerning the Other. It is clear that a lot of people are not comfortable with the rising tide of racism and intolerance that seems to be sweeping across the world.

People want to show concern for minorities and to show solidarity – rather than add to the frenzy of hatred. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of our initial Funders we have reached our first target and the cost of printing out the virtual artworks has been pledged.  We are delighted and very grateful to all of you.

In the meantime, we have been working on the plan to tour the exhibition of collaborative prints – both nationally and internationally – and we hope to be in a position to publish details shortly.

Any additional funding will be used to further these plans so – we are still gratefully accepting pledges.  This is primarily to cover the cost of transporting the works and also to fund the production of a good quality catalogue.

There’s more information at:   https://fundit.ie/project/concerning-the-other

We would love to hear from you. You can visit our on the Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/ConcerningtheOther/

http://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/

http://www.eoinmaclochlainn.com/

And of course, your comments are always welcome here!