The enchanting riverside Luan Gallery was the atmospheric venue as Deputy Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief, in conjunction with Desi McDonnell, Director of Enterprise Shared Services (ESS ), Department of Finance, Northern Ireland, formally opened the joint touring exhibition, ‘Untitled [landscape]’ on Friday evening.
The exhibition comprises of thirty art works chosen from the collections of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Office of Public Works, providing an opportunity to show the art from both collections to the public.
“I am very pleased to be able to bring this touring exhibition to Athlone, in the heartland of Ireland. This year’s theme is on landscape and I believe it is a very appropriate location for this specific exhibition, as Athlone is surrounded by a wonderful array of landscapes from unexplored tracks and trails, beguiling blueways and exciting waterside towns and picturesque rural villages. This joint art collaboration allows us the opportunity to bring these public collections to a wider audience throughout the Island of Ireland.,” the Deputy noted.
This year the exhibition was curated by Dr. Louise Kelly and Davey Moor from the OPW Art Management Office and consists of landscapes in a range of mediums, from oils on canvas to prints and photographs.
A free catalogue accompanies the exhibition and in it Moor succinctly describes the artworks as “thirty idiosyncratic views of nature, each scape contoured somewhat to the code of a personal iconography. We see vistas charged with politics, humour, memory, gender, and often by an introverted look at the workings of picture construction, whether analogue or digital.”
‘Untitled [landscape]’ runs until April 7. Luan Gallery is open Tuesday–Saturday from 11am–5pm and Sundays 12pm–5pm. The gallery is closed on Mondays.
