Everyone has a favourite but few mention the hefty, big-boned nudes. Lady Stella Empey, who has travelled from Belfast to open the exhibition of Russian paintings, picks the still-life with red flowers. Rebecca Rowe and Laura George, from Reverie in Sandycove, pick the dancing shoulders and the Lenin portrait.
Eve Linders, the former owner of the Jenny Vanders shop in George's Arcade, who is now based in Thurles, Co Tipperary, and her brother, Patrick Linders, are hoping to raise enough money through the exhibition to pay for a house for the Belfast-based international housing charity, Habitat for Humanity. Peter Farquharson, co-founder and executive director of the charity, is here with his wife, Jane McCarthy. Senator Maurice Manning and his son, Nicholas Manning (10), are impressed by all the paintings, which are on view at the Molesworth Gallery at 16 Molesworth Street. Mary Finn, from Clonskeagh, says "Eve has a great eye". The 20th-century paintings "represent the post-revolutionary schools of art, which were closely controlled by Stalin and the Communist Party," Lady Empey tells us. Who will praise the nudes? Denis Moloney, a charity worker and a solicitor from Belfast, will say only one thing. "I'm a good Northerner. I will not comment on public displays of nudity." Speaking of nudity, The Nualas, with their new live show, The Snowy Belly Show, are currently performing at the HQ Hall of Fame, having just returned from a sell-out run in London's West End. Their show will continue to December 22nd. And, their new video, Big Shiny Dress, is now out on Sony label as well. Anne Gildea, Sue Collins and Josie O'Reilly would definitely have something to say about big bones.