Off Season

Paul Kane Gallery, Merrion Sq, Dublin
Tues-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat noon-5pm Until Apr 2 thepaulkanegallery.com

There’s something grimly fascinating about resorts out-of-season. All the colourful props are left looking silly and embarrassed, as false as the “premeditated fun” that the poet Robert Lowell couldn’t abide. Melancholy replaces jollity as the absence of crowds, and the incongruous quiet, prompts introspection and reflection.

Niall Kerrigan’s photographs document, in meticulous detail, the fabric of several Irish resorts in the winter months. Kerrigan moved to the west, settling in Killala five years ago, and the move formed the basis for two sets of photographs, Off Season and Derelict, Silent Still, in which he explored “the architecture of abandonment” in the form of the many vacated and decaying houses and cottages in the countryside.

This and his earlier show have appropriately been seen first in the Ballina Arts Centre.

Can't see that? Catch this:

Fergus Martin: Photographs Green on Red Gallery Dublin Until Apr 9 01-6713414