As visual arts critic of The Irish Times, Aidan Dunne is no stranger to exhibition openings. Tuesday night's reception in the Temple Bar Gallery was just a little different - it was the opening night of Aidan's first solo show. The heat in the gallery was sub-tropical, due, undoubtedly, to the number of people that turned up to support him, and not to the sorry efforts of the Irish weather. Noel Sheridan, director of NCAD who will be reviewing the show for Circa magazine, was dressed to suit the heat, if not the weather, in a Panama hat. Meanwhile, Italian photographer Constanzo Idini, who is currently working at the gallery, was dressed to impress in a nifty striped suit and what can only be described as "hover/bovver boots". The show attracted a good mixture of well-established names from the Irish arts scene as well as a large crew of younger artists. Rachael Treacy, a board member of the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, bought one of the pieces; another person who snapped up one of the quietly muted paintings was John Taylor of the Taylor Galleries in Dublin. Arts administration folk put in a strong showing - Philomena Byrne from IMMA popped in; John P. Quinlan of the impressive Vanguard Gallery in Macroom, Co Cork came up for the show and Ronan McEvilley of the Sligo Arts Gallery took time out from organising the Iontas show in the RHA, which opens today. Then, of course, there were the artists. Clea van der Grijn was in a particularly good mood as she had just got a consignment of fine art materials from London that morning - designer John Rocha has commissioned a lot of work from her for his new hotel on the quays. Meanwhile, Michelle Souter was snapping people at the exhibition - she always keeps her camera handy as she is working on a series called "The Irish male at the turn of the century". When Michelle spots someone who fits her criteria, she shoots them there and then - Paul McGuinness and Jim Sheridan were both captured by her lens recently. Others there included Aidan's partner, Helen Rock and her daughter Niamh; Welsh artist Richard Powell, who is currently working with the Temple Bar Gallery on an Art in the Streets project; artist Stephen Brandes, who is preparing for an exhibition in Kevin Kavanagh's Jo Rain Gallery early next year; Peter Fitzgerald, editor of Circa magazine, and the Byrne brothers - sculptor Eoin and Fergus, the general manager of the Temple Bar Gallery.