Labour of love

On the Town: The first solo show by Brian Denington was opened by Ruairí Quinn TD this week.

On the Town: The first solo show by Brian Denington was opened by Ruairí Quinn TD this week.

Denington is the man who was commissioned to paint the large mural depicting the history of the Irish Labour Party, which now hangs in Leinster House, explained the former leader of the party. It measures six feet by 18 feet.

The politician became friends with the artist when they met more than 10 years ago in the run-up to the bank holiday first introduced by the Labour Party on May Day 1994.

"It's very easy to communicate with Ruairí. He puts down scribbles and we understand each other's scribbles," said Denington.

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As well as a series of nudes, the new show at the Jorgensen Fine Art gallery features six landscapes.

"I've always been terrified of painting trees," admitted Denington, who now lives in Tacumshane, Co Wexford, with his partner, Maggie Lefever. "For years, I had to draw people when I worked as an illustrator," said the artist. The former graphic designer and illustrator began to paint full-time in the early 1990s.

Among those at the opening were artists Campbell Bruce and his wife, Jackie Stanley, art consultant Ciarán Mac Gonigal and patrons of the gallery including Pauline Fitzpatrick and Rita Kattaneh.

Síle Connaughton-Deeny, who works at the gallery, noticed that the painting, Dublin Cityscape, which is printed on the cover of the catalogue, appealed to a lot of the guests because the streets were empty of traffic for a change.

Denington says he is going to paint more landscapes in the future, such as Forth Mountain in Co Wexford.

Brian Denington's show runs at the Jorgensen Fine Art gallery until Saturday, April 24th