Eamonn O’Doherty: Drawings and Maquettes for Sculptures and Other Small Works from 1960 Onwards

Kevin Kavanagh, Chancery Lane Tues-Fri 10.30am-5.30pm, Sat 11am-5pm Until August 31

Kevin Kavanagh, Chancery Lane Tues-Fri 10.30am-5.30pm, Sat 11am-5pm Until August 31

This exhibition was in train prior to Eamonn O’Doherty’s untimely death on August 3rd. For an artist who was so well known by the general public, largely on the basis of his many public sculptures, O’Doherty was rarely pinned down in a gallery space. His work was usually tailored to and consumed by specific projects, and he didn’t really get the opportunity to assemble enough finished pieces for solo shows. Active across a range of disciplines, including painting, photography and printmaking as well as sculpture, he nonetheless amassed a fascinating body of material over time, a great deal – though by no means all – of it relating to completed or potential large-scale pieces.

Among his landmark sculptures are the Tree of Gold at the Central Bank and the displaced figure of Anna Livia, moved from O’Connell Street by the City Council in 2002 and now incongruously installed close to Heuston Station. The show represents a welcome chance to get a glimpse of the breadth of O’Doherty’s endeavours, many of them laced with his caustic sense of humour.

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Aidan Dunne

Aidan Dunne

Aidan Dunne is visual arts critic and contributor to The Irish Times