THIS is an all watercolour exhibition, a phenomenon which has become relatively rare - alas for the days when such as Nano Reid and Father Jack Hanlon could cover the walls of reputable galleries with quality works in this medium. Today it has tended - in Ireland anyway - to be sidelined and too often is associated with Sunday papers or maiden aunt activities. And yet watercolour is one of the most exacting media, to, work in, needing sureness and fluency and just the right combination of hand, eye and brain.
Richard Kingston is one of the select number of Irish artists who can handle it with virtuosity (others who might be included under this heading are Louis le Brocquy, Tom Carr, T.R Flanagan and, more recently, Martin Gale). This is "true" watercolour technique, too, not the opaque one of gouache which is handled with such richness by Tony O'Malley, for instance. Kingston's watercolours have a rare combination of spontaneity and elegance, never trying to say too much yet not becoming mere exercises in technique.
Though there are some succulent still life pieces, most of the subject are out of doors ones. Changing light effects are caught skilfully and immediate impressions are set down with misleading simplicity - a rhododendron in flower, a garden cascade, water ruffled by the wind. Though all these are traditional themes, the treatment is free and unhackneyed and makes you remember that Kingston has served an apprenticeship to abstract art. Perhaps a faint flavour of Homes and Gardens does intrude at times, but not enough to detract from the overall impression of style and intimacy.
