The selection process for this exhibition involved seven artists being invited to contribute work and also to nominate two other artists - all collectively exploring aspects of the human figure. The final line-up has ensured that this was never merely going to be a display of polished academic nudes since the links with the theme are varied and, at times, even oblique.
Installation work is fairly well represented, being a particularly potent vehicle for describing the actuality of movement and form. Louise Walsh's video fits this criteria, as female twins practise intensely physical yoga-styled movements. John Langan's piece looks at the role of soccer in shaping male identity; his monitor nests inside an igloo structure made from old footballs.
Bernard Smyth presents the subject of the figure in a very literal sense, as two monitors show the artist scratching and sucking his skin, while a full-length photomontage shows his naked body pressed uncomfortably against a pane of glass; the idea of manipulation versus representation is also echoed in Emma Johnston's Photographs.
All the other contributors offer either paintings, prints or drawings. Mick Cullen's cowboy Doppelganger is here - his guests, Denise McShannon and Ivan Connolly, provide a certain stylistic commonality. Coilin Murray's rich and vibrant landscapes qualify due to discreet heads buried in the heavy impasto, while Alice Maher's delicate symbolic icons of womanhood find companionship with Katherine Lynch's lingerie photo-lithographs. Brian Bourke's portraits have an odd detachment, while James Hanley's large ink and conte drawings are a marvel of control and precision.
Until September 8th.
