First exhibited as part of her solo exhibition Displaced Privilege, which took place at the Olivier Cornet Gallery in 2021, this compelling work by Miriam McConnon captivates the viewer in a veil of intricacy, as we attempt to untangle its profound and poignant message. McConnon has been represented by the Olivier Cornet Gallery since 2016 where she exhibited as part of a group show entitled Effleurements. She has had four subsequent solo exhibitions with the gallery: In Life’s Pocket (2017); Domestic Resistance (2019); Displaced Privilege (2021) and the most recent, Lost Lace - The Drawings (2022). Lost Lace, a collaborative project which took place earlier this year, was led by Miriam McConnon and poet Jessica Traynor in commemoration of those who died during the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

With regards to this work, A Cypriot Story of Displacement, McConnon has, with much dignity, displayed and honoured the personal narrative of the refugee. Through creating an illusion of fine elegant lace through the use of oil on wood, McConnon has transformed these opaque robust materials into vessels through which these personal stories radiate, illuminating the significance of the individual struggle in times of universal crisis. By referencing personal, sentimental items such as bracelets, rings and other heirlooms, McConnon has weaved a diaphanous lace that combines these motifs in a discreet manner, alluding to their individual significance while at the same time creating a narrative of shared struggle. The title of the work reminds us of the crisis experienced by the people of Cyprus in the ongoing conflict with Turkey. The sense of identity and community is very evident in McConnon’s work, as she respectfully provides a platform for these displaced people, upon which their stories are represented with the dignity and empathy they deserve.  

The objective and public narrative of conflict and displacement throughout history leaves the personal narrative endangered. McConnon addresses this by relating Cypriot and Syrian stories of displacement in her paintings, depicting these narratives that were decades apart through patterns of traditional weave and lace. An accompanying work for this solo show entitled A Syrian Story of Displacement, displayed a traditional hand woven rug. The decision to represent these stories through soft materials such as tapestry and lace emphasizes a sense of fragility, vulnerability and heritage. On her work for this show, McConnon explained that, “by presenting things from a personal perspective, people’s perceptions can change, that judgment can become less harsh, more understanding, more empathy. I think that comes with knowledge.” 

Mary Rose Porter

Tinteán Tréigthe n. 15 is part of a series of paintings portraying abandoned fireplaces in derelict houses from the west coast of Ireland. In an article on his online blog, Eoin Mac Lochlainn explained that an old cottage in Donegal, a small town located in the homonymous county in the north of Ireland, provided him with the inspiration for the artworks: on an artist's residency there he met the Gaelic poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh, who read him the poem Na Bailte Bánaithe (The whitewashed towns). This is about how the spirits of the people who left still haunt the landscape. When he entered the crumbling building between brambles and weeds the text came to his mind, looking at his own figure reflected in a dusty mirror and a flash of light coming down from a hole in the roof. These old fireworks symbolize the home hearths, the core identity of the inhabitants, of which nothing remains but old axes and cobwebs.

With the Irish diaspora that took place in the 21st century, a lot of people left their homes in Ireland. This body of work commemorates those in that situation; each person had their individual temper and nature, whatever their new life has been away from those houses. The different personalities are expressed visually through the appearance of those fireplaces, from simple stone arrangements, to elaborate mantles, to grass-filled corners. This work mourns time gone by and people who had no choice but to leave, emphasizing the theme of home, always central in the work of Eoin as a safe haven where we can feel at ease.

The series of paintings was shown to the public from September to October 2015, when the artist had his first solo show at the Olivier Cornet Gallery. The exhibition was titled Diaspora. It was paired with a second series of paintings of empty skies, that for Eoin represented the new possibilities for expat people. The warm, brown and reddish colours created a fascinating contrast with the pale and blended blue of the cloudy airspace. The show was opened by Dr Margarita Cappock, who at the time was the Deputy Director and Head of Collections at Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane.

Diaspora was reviewed by Brian McAvera in the 2015 Autumn Edition of the Irish Art Review Magazine. To quote him, “These are layered and satisfyingly complex paintings, evocative, textured, subtle, creating a dialogue between figuration and abstraction, a more subdued dialogue between frontality and three-dimensionality, and managing that difficult tightrope balance of being socially aware without prettifying the subject”. This review marked an important milestone for the gallery as this was the first time one of our artists was getting a full interview in this prestigious magazine. The following year, the magazine commissioned Gerry Walker to interview the gallerist himself: The interview was titled The French New Wave and is available online. Eoin's interview can be seen in the corridor of our building leading to the gallery.

TG4’s Kate Finnegan came to the gallery to interview Eoin in a brilliant documentary produced by Red Shoe Ltd. The exhibition at the gallery was a huge success with most paintings sold during their showing. The artist created a second series with the same subject that toured various art spaces around Ireland during 2015 and 2016, including the Hamilton Gallery in Sligo. In Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr on the Aran Islands and in An Graaileaí, Gaoth Dobhair, the show was entitled Tinteáin.

This painting was also exhibited at King House in 2017 as part of the Boyle Arts Festival (Boyle, Co. Roscommon). A work with a great provenance!

Eoin has been represented by our gallery since 2014, taking part in many group exhibitions with us. Other solo exhibitions at the gallery include Deireadh Fómhair in 2018 and Is glas iad na cnoic in 2021. The artist is working on his next solo show, ‘Cogadh na gCarad’ (The War between Friends), a series of charcoal drawings commemorating the 1500 lives lost during the Irish Civil War, which will be presented here at the gallery in March 2023.

Lisa Brero

In August 2021, I purchased this wonderful artwork by textile artist Mary Moorkens. The work was part of a great art project titled Pluid, curated by one of my artists, namely Claire Halpin, and fellow artist and sister Madeleine Hellier. The project was about creating a ‘National Comfort Blanket’ during lockdown, asking artists to create artworks that gave them comfort in those difficult times. 

Over 1200 artists, crafters, and makers responded to the call and had their work assembled in a crochet-square manner in The Cowshed Gallery at the Farmleigh Estate in Dublin from August 27 to September 5 that year.

My plan was to offer my mum this wonderful artwork for her 80th birthday coming up in 2022 but to also find a present for my dad who was also turning 80 this year. So I decided to commission one of my other artists, namely Hugh Cummins to create a box with a lid that would act as a frame for Mary’s artwork. The box had to have an interior removable tray with some compartments or smaller trays made of various wood veneers. 

The magical result is this magnificent burr elm hinged, lidded box with 5 interior trays and a space for Mary Moorkens’s textile piece.

The box carcass is assembled using Oroko hardwood encased in Burr Elm, with solid Elm wood set in the top and bottom of the frame.

The hinges are hand carved in a finer figured Elm Burr secured for safety with small cross head brassed screws.

The main internal tray is made of Macrocarpa sides with a Burr Elm floor.

Wood veneers used for the small trays:

H 1: Apple sides and Beech (Lacewood) floor (3.1x6.7x6.7cm

H 2: Grey-dyed Sycamore sides and Yew floor (2.5x6.6x6.6cm)

H3: Zebrano sides and Beech floor (2.1x6.5x6.5cm)

H4: Ripple Sycamore, Gum and Walnut floor with Oak leaf in Gum (1.7x6.5x6.5cm)

Mary Moorkens’s piece is titled 'Comfort Stitching', hand stitching on fabric, dyed with flowers and leaves, with antique lace, 15x15cm

When I commissioned Hugh Cummins to create this special box, I did not know at the time that I would be in a position to include it in my gallery's current show '2012-2022, a decade of exhibitions at the Olivier Cornet Gallery'. I did ask Hugh to take photographs of work in progress though and you can now watch this short slideshow below.

This dynamic painting was first displayed as part of the end of summer group exhibition titled Resurfacing, which took place in August 2020. The Olivier Cornet Gallery took this time to respond to the easing of restrictions put in place during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Following the lockdowns previously imposed by the state, the country finally began to reopen, allowing many of us to go back to work or visit our friends and family again. Taking inspiration from these circumstances, the gallery “resurfaced”' pre-exhibited work by our artists, allowing us to give them a new lease of life. In this way the exhibition reflected our own rebeginning, a return to things we had lost, finally allowed to resurface together as a community once more.

Susanne Wawra began her relationship with the Olivier Cornet Gallery as part of the Associated Gallery Artists or AGA group in 2020. It was in this same year that she held a solo exhibition titled SITZFLEISCH, which took place entirely online by way of a virtual exhibition. While many international museums had explored this new method of displaying art during the Covid 19 lockdowns, this was one of the first times a commercial gallery in Ireland had delivered an immersive exhibition entirely online. Easily accessible via a mobile or laptop,”visitors” can explore the exhibition at their own ease, clicking into each work to find out more about it. The Olivier Cornet Gallery has since uploaded every subsequent exhibition to its 3D virtual space, allowing for increased accessibility for everyone. By February 2021 Susanne had been invited to join the Olivier Cornet Gallery as an officially represented artist. 

This work by Susanne perfectly displays her eclectic artistic process. In an interview with Penny McCormick at THE GLOSS magazine, Susanne outlined that “I mostly begin by looking at my photo archives, my family albums or miscellaneous images I bought from eBay. They are my starting point for paintings, drawings and ceramic low relief carvings. Also, writings and moods are jumping off points. Most of the time, I don’t plan, but do a type of visual brainstorming: an intensive phase of making and experimenting until I run out of momentum. Only then, I am able to step out, I look at what has occurred, evaluate the results and decide what to explore further.” In this interview Susanne explains how she likes to play with words in titling her works. For her piece exhibited here, Grá, an inscription on the verso reads “Grá - Irish for love, Gra/mama, the fabric used to be my Grandma (Linda’s) party blouse that used to be a piece of fabric before my mama sewed her that outfit.” The fabric itself is decorated with a gramophone pattern. Hence the title of the work has many meanings; gr(á), gr(amama) and gr(amaphone). Although neat in size, the all over composition and use of many varying media results in a visually stimulating experience, as the eye scans the shiny photo transfer, the thick oil, pasty acrylic and soft fabric, drinking in the details. 

Mary Rose Porter

Yanny Petters’ 2020 work Hand Fan for Habitats II explores the impacts of the fashion industry and climate change on the natural world. Petters constructed the hand fan out of carved birch wood and glass, held by a decorative brown ribbon. The nine floral motifs depicted on the panes of glass represent the nine habitats of Ireland: the Burren, woodland, grassland, bogs, heath, hedgerow, fen, sea shore, and wetland. Each species of plant was selected by Petters to signify the native plants of each habitat, creating a semiotic map of Ireland’s native biodiversity. The designs on the glass panes were produced using verre églomisé, a technique frequently observed in Petters’ oeuvre. It involves an application of paint and sketched designs to the rear of the glass rather than the front to create a unique sense of depth and space.

In her artist’s statement, Petters cites the history of the hand fan as both an artistic fashion object and a symbol of wealth as an inspiration for the work. Traditional hand fans were made of animal and plant materials and often featured landscapes and portraits. Additionally, Petters mentions seeing an influx of hand fans being used in modernity, which she attributes to hotter summers caused by climate change. The fashion industry, particularly through the harvesting of materials used to manufacture products, has a severely damaging impact on the natural world and native biodiversity. Through Hand Fan for Habitats II Petters examines the beauty of the natural Irish environment and how it is now under threat due to climate change and manufacturing. 

Yanny Petters’ work features in the collections of the National Gallery of Ireland, the National Museum of Ireland, and the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew, London. An earlier version of Hand Fan for Habitats II, namely Hand Fan for Habitats, is held in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. 

Another work, The Plants We Played With, was acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland in 2020. The work was part of our 2015 group show Hopscotch. Yanny has been represented by Olivier Cornet since 2003. 

Genevieve Rust

Hugh Cummins’s ‘Frustum and Spades’ were featured in the Olivier Cornet Gallery’s Hopscotch exhibition in 2015. The exhibition was based around the central theme of childhood memory, nostalgia, and the physicality of children’s games. Cummins’ work reimagines buckets and spades, like those one would take to play on the beach, through brightly coloured wood. The spades’ handles consist of 23 different types of wood layered on top of one another whereas the buckets are made of ash and tulip wood. These works stand out in Cummins’ oeuvre particularly due to their bright colour dyes. Cummins’ other wooden works typically feature more natural finishes. The presence of these colours reinforces themes of happiness and youthful nostalgia. 

The Hopscotch exhibition was initially presented at the VUE Art Fair at Dublin’s Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) in 2015. Another one of Hugh Cummins’ works displayed in this exhibition, ‘Maternal Care,’ was purchased by the Office of Public Works for the collection of the Irish State. Yanny Petters’ work ‘The plants we played with,’ which was also featured in Hopscotch, was purchased a few years later by the National Gallery of Ireland. 

Alongside visual works, Hopscotch also displayed text snippets inspired by the works. These were written by young authors involved with the Fighting Words creative writing centre. Established by Seán Love and Roddy Doyle in 2009, Fighting Words acts as a free multi-discipline creative writing mentorship program for children, young adults, and adults with additional needs. The Hopscotch exhibition was also chronicled in the Irish Times by art critic Aidan Dunne, who wrote:

 “This is a lively, thoughtful group show, first shown in the VUE and now given the space it deserves. Annika Berglund, Michelle Byrne, Conrad Frankel, Hugh Cummins, Jordi Fornies, John Fitzsimons, Jason Lowe, Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Yanny Petters, Kelly Ratchford and Adrienne Symes explore memories of childhood and children’s games. With texts in response by young writers in collaboration with Fighting Words, the creative writing centre established by Seán Love and Roddy Doyle.”

This writeup was a notable milestone for the Gallery as it was the first example of a OCG group thematic exhibition being written about in the Irish Times. It was included in the article “Going out: The best of what’s on this week,” published January 3rd, 2016. 

Genevieve Rust

As part of Jordi Forniés's 2015 Counterpoint solo exhibition, 'The Machine' reinterpreted the musical term ‘counterpoint’, which describes the combination of two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality. Forniés expressed his fascination with “materiality in painting” and the concept of challenging scientific rules of attraction, which predict the interaction between certain materials and substances, such as water and oil. Although known as mutually repellent, the artist pushes the boundaries in these works, postulating that the two materials co-exist in nature harmoniously even within our own cells, making the combination paramount to physical existence. The Machine combines an unconventional mixture of materials on canvas, such as gold leaf, oil, enamel and gesso while capturing their reaction. Forniés’ fascination with engineering and preplanning the chemical interactions stems from his scientific background, however his current work as a musical composer has been prominent in his visual works and Counterpoint definitely marked a turning point in the artist’s exploration of music within his visual practice. 

The artist functioned with the Jackson Pollock mantra “I am Nature!” in mind, shifting its meaning and imposing his own rules on the materials utilised in the paintings, by forcing their aggregation mechanically. The concept of Counterpoint and the power behind the fusion of individual melodies into one is clearly echoed by this piece, highlighting the artist’s domination over the process. The painting represents a variety of counterpoints, not only through the creation procedure, but also in terms of the visual features of the work. The circular forms overlap, clearly distinguishable due to the contrasting colours of turquoise, muted brown and gold. These round organic shapes are accentuated by a striking red angular form reminiscent of a man-made object. The fragile balance between these natural and quasi-industrial elements reinforces the concept of antithesis and harmony. 

The Counterpoint exhibition organised by the Olivier Cornet Gallery, took place in the Irish Georgian Society’s Octagonal Room in the City Assembly House, Dublin. The show was accompanied by a catalogue with an essay written by Oleksandra Osadcha, and introduced by then president of the Irish Georgian Society, Patrick Guinness.

Forniés (born in Huesca, 1971) is a Catalan artist who was based in Dublin (Ireland) for many years but is currently based in Singapore. He has been represented (in Ireland) by the Olivier Cornet Gallery since 2007. The artist’s latest exhibition entitled El Ressó del Silenci (The Echo of Silence) is currently displayed at the Museu del Castell de Vila-seca (Tarragona, Spain), and will run until the 26th of February 2023. It features, among other series of works, 3D paintings from his 2019 Kisāna show at the Olivier Cornet Gallery. 

Natalia Sikora

This work formed part of Augmented Auguries, Claire Halpin's first solo exhibition at the Olivier Cornet Gallery since the monumental Jigmap series of works was acquired and exhibited at IMMA in its museum wide exhibition The Narrow Gate of The Here and Now – Chapter Four: Protest and Conflict. This significant acquisition placed Claire’s paintings in an international context of contemporary and historically acclaimed political artists looking at protest, conflict, contested histories and responding to the global issues of our times.This exhibition, Augmented Auguries, brought together an ambitious body of Claire’s work developed over the previous two years, building on themes and concepts commonly explored in her paintings. Responding to sites of conflict and contested histories internationally from the Pandemic, storming of the Capitol in Washington, conflict and protest in Northern Ireland to the war in Ukraine, Claire’s work highlights the atrocities of humankind in her unique allegorical and iconographic style. 

The theatrics and spectacle of conflict and protest are documented and recorded through paint on panel and canvas, using traditional and historic artistic methods and materials that were favoured by the art historical canon in western Europe. The works attempt to navigate the complexity of the contemporary theatre of war and cultural wars as battlefields move to the battlespace of the online world of fake news, censorship and social media. The exhibition title, Augmented Auguries, linked the live feed of news and social media via satellite and drones to the ancient Roman practice of augury - the interpretation of omens from nature, particularly from the observed behaviour of birds - and the sometimes fabricated auspices that could be used to pervert a political course of action.

 

Speaking about her work for this exhibition, Claire explained that, "with recent paintings I have attempted to respond in a more immediate way through a loosening of the handling of the paint, allowing a movement and blurring on the gessoed surface – a slight shift from the heavily worked complex compositions of the Jigmap Series.” For Claire these works were an attempt “to create painting[s] of a particular event, incident, atrocity – contesting history and recording future history. All to the backdrop of the canon of art history, the complex compositions and multiple narratives of Early Renaissance and Byzantine painting." This emotive work recounts the catastrophic events of the war in Ukraine leading up to the painting’s completion in 2022. This highly textural piece exudes a sense of desolation, the intensely scratched appearance to the surface cuts ferociously throughout the work, permeated by plumes of smoke from gunfire and explosives. The monumental theatre of Mariupol stands proudly in the centre of the work, its temple facade masking the destruction that lay behind it after a Russian airstrike in March of 2022. Halpin used artistic elements typically associated with allegorical and religious paintings of the Early Renaissance, such as the putti and scroll motif to the uppermost corners, also the predella that runs along the base of the piece. These somewhat anachronistic elements relate the current crisis times we live in, to historical catastrophic events documented throughout time.

The exhibition was launched by fellow political artist Joy Gerrard, and was accompanied by a text of conversations between art historian Dr Brenda Moore-McCann and Claire Halpin in her studio, which is available to read on the Augmented Auguries exhibition page.

Mary Rose Porter