THIS time of the year is a nervous time for gallery owners. With many of their best clients away in sunnier climes, they can never be sure exactly how many people will turn up at an opening. The Hallward Gallery in Merrion Square has a policy of giving shows at this time of year to up and coming artists and they a invite someone in the know to select an artist who they believe will be a name to watch.
This week Ciaran MacGonigal, director of the RHA Gallagher Gallery, put his name on the block and chose 23 year old Robert Clarke, an artist who, he said, is "somebody who is going to be somebody". MacGonigal said he first saw Robert's work in NCAD's degree show in his gallery, before correcting himself with "that makes it sound very proprietorial ... but I'm not Declan McGonagle so I can afford to think like that." (I don't really know what that means either but it does sound splendidly catty.)
Several opening night regulars were there, including Uli de Breffni, Rosalinda Green, Mary Freehill and Jacko and Michael Nesbett.
The artist looked suitably exhausted but several of his very stylish young friends turned out to lend their support, including Patricia O'Shea, a woman who is far more exotic than her name might suggest. An Argentinian now living here, she was at the exhibition with her parents, Patrick O'Shea and Ermelinda Perel de O'Shea, who are here on holiday. Patrick is a second generation Irish Argentinian and apparently there is such a vast Irish community in Argentina that the name O'Shea is as common there as it is here.
Encouraged by the good weather, the family was thinking of heading to the Rustic Inn in Abbeyshrule on Friday night for an asada, a traditional Argentinian gaucho barbecue, organised by the Longford Westmeath Argentinian Society.
