Roller Skates & Ruins

Interesting exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland of archive material about six artists of the Irish Revolutionary period.

The artists were Grace Gifford, Sarah Cecilia Harrison, Aloysius O’Kelly, William Orpen, Sarah Purse and Jack Yeats. Each had a biography on the wall highlighting what happened to them in those years and a display case of archive material.

It introduced me to some new artists who I will continue to look out for. It would have been nice to have added examples of their work but I guess those were in the main gallery.

There was a sister show in the same gallery “Momento Civitatem: Alice Maher and Jamie Murphy” responding to the archives of the same artists. They had produced a artist book built around 21 Tarot cards and words which left them open to interpretation. It was as interesting idea but I didn’t really understand the link to the artists. I suspect you needed to know their work well.

Closes 17 September 2023



 

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