On the Town: The life cycle of flowers is explored in new work by Belfast-born artist Robert Janz, which went on view this week in Dublin's Peppercanister Gallery.
This "very recent work" is a continuation "of what I've been doing for 40 years", said Janz. "I like doing time, and the time in a flower is very compact. It blooms for maybe 10 days."
The paintings are concerned with "finding a path, or a way of life", said Lurgan-based architect John DKelly, who opened the show. "He's really commenting on the timescale in the flower paintings, which go from bud to bloom to seed."
The show, Garden Gate, "is like a threshold", added Kelly. "You either go into that sanctuary, a safe place. Maybe people will opt out of the real world. There are lots of aspects to that threshold."
A sequence called Narrow Road "is about being on the path, being on the journey and dealing with the different speeds of that track". A series of twig animals, including caribou, look at "the primeval forces that nature has", said Kelly, who was at the show with his wife, artist Rita Duffy.
"It's about the ebb and flow of life, it's the life cycle," said gallery owner Antoinette Murphy. "Also, Robert wants to point up to us the fragility of life."
He wants his twig sculptures, she added, "to disintegrate like we will". Murphy's sister, Helène Hughes, and her niece, interior designer Elaine Hughes, were also at the opening. Others at the show included artist Eithne Carr RHA; chartered accountant Alastair MacDonald; Carmel Kelly, of the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland; Dick and Jess Sweetnam, from Cabinteely; and Dublin-based Japanese artist Makiko Nakamura.
• Robert Janz: Garden Gate continues at the Peppercanister Gallery until Wed, Sept 6