Art

Five art shows to see this week

Sir Sidney Nolan paitings related to his family links with Ireland on show in the Burren

Sir Sidney Nolan visiting the Burren. Photograph: The Burren College of Art

Aidan Dunne's face
Aidan Dunne
Sat Jul 7 2018 - 05:00

Island Life
Summer exhibition. Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Chancery Lane, Dublin. Until July 28th kevinkavanagh.ie
Kevin Kavanagh's summer show concentrates on artists currently working primarily with paint, offering a chance to see where painting is in a culture increasingly dominated by screens and ephemeral imagery. Among those participating are Sonia Shiel, Kathy Tynan, Mark Swords, Salvatore of Lucan, Robert Armstrong, Julia Dubsky, Lesley-Ann O'Connell, Stephen Loughman, Cecilia Danell and Stephanie Deady.

Sir Sidney Nolan: The Celtic Image
The Gallery, Burren College of Art, Newtown Castle, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare. Until July 20th burrencollege.ie
This year's Burren annual exhibition features a series of "hitherto unknown and previously un-exhibited" paintings by the celebrated Australian artist Sir Sidney Nolan, who died in 1992.  Made late in his life, these spray paintings relate to his family links with Ireland – he had traced antecedents to Ballyvaughan and was keen to re-establish connections.

Elements: West Cork Landscape
Group show. The O'Driscoll Building, the Old Quay, Skibbereen, Co Cork. July 12th–August 6th skibbereen arts festival.com
Catherine Hammond curates a show by 30 artists celebrating the West Cork landscape. With work by William Crozier, Frances Ryan, Tim Goulding, Carol Hodder, John Kelly, Katherine Boucher Beug, Donald Teskey, Christine Thery and more. The festival also features new ceramic work by Cormac Boydell and new sculpture by Michael Quane.

Siuan McGahan: All that We See or Seem
The Stableyard Galleries, Castletown House, Celbridge, Co Kildare. Until July 27th castletown.ie
Siuan McGahan's career path has taken her from computer simulations at NASA-JPL to visual effects for feature films including Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Her brilliant digital portrait series, Expectations are just future disappointments explores, "the performativity of contemporary gender roles and their relationship to the domestic space". They really do. Plus other works.

READ MORE

The Patriarchy Built My Playground, Siuan McGahan, Castsletown

George Potter
Selected works. Taylor Galleries, 16 Kildare St, Dublin. Until July 28th taylorgalleries.ie
The word ebullient might have been coined to describe George Potter who, sadly, died about a year ago. A stalwart of the Taylor, he was originally from Washington DC but made Dun Laoghaire his home. He seemed almost from another era – think Hemingway in Paris – but he was a fine artist whose crisply articulated paintings are underwritten by a flawless sense of design, composition and colour, with the line of a superb draughtsman.