The Highlights and Lowlights of the year in the Visual Arts
THE HIGHLIGHTS
ROYAL HIBERNIAN ACADEMY GALLERY
The Royal Hibernian Academy Gallagher Gallery re-opened pretty much on schedule in November with the RHA Annual Exhibition, revealing a vastly improved interior and some nifty design thinking. The improvements enhance the gallery's potential as a first-rate venue in the heart of the city.
JULIAN OPIE
O'Connell Street
Julian Opie's animated light figures on O'Connell St in Dublin could be described as pop art at its best, and one of them has found a permanent home outside the Hugh Lane.
THE VICTOR VASARELY RETROSPECTIVE
Letterkenny and Church Hill
This retrospective at Letterkenny's Regional Arts Centre and the Glebe Gallery in Church Hill was an imaginative and audacious project.
THE LANE BEQUEST
Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Hugh Lane
The highlight of the Hugh Lane Gallery's centenary celebrations included the welcome display of all the disputed Lane Bequest paintings at the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art.
WALTER VERLING
Limerick City Gallery of Art
The Walter Verling retrospective was, deservedly, phenomenally successful at the Limerick City Gallery of Art during the summer months, and the Gallery proved it could showcase conceptualism with a fine exhibition by Turner Prize-winner Simon Starling.
THE LOWLIGHTS
BIZARRE MERGER IDEAS
The bizarre declaration in the infamous Budget 2009 that IMMA, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Crawford Art Gallery are to "merge" in a cost-saving initiative that happens to be completely un-costed and un-researched.
POOR FUNDING FOR G126
The slow strangulation of G126, Galway's innovative, voluntary, artist-run exhibition space, which received a paltry €1,000 in annual funding from the city council and may have to close in the new year.