Five artists on shortlist for Royal College of Surgeons award

Award comes with prize of €5,000 and commission worth €10,000

Seeing Red, by Taffina Flood, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Seeing Red, by Taffina Flood, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times

Five artists have been shortlisted for the 2018 Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) Art Award.

The five were selected from more than 600 works currently on display at the 188th Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) Annual Exhibition, a free public exhibition which opens this week and continues until August 11th.

Brig Gen Jimmy Flynn (retd) DSM, by Amelia Stein RHA, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Brig Gen Jimmy Flynn (retd) DSM, by Amelia Stein RHA, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Venus of Holles Street, by Jason Ellis, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition.  Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Venus of Holles Street, by Jason Ellis, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times

Open to all artists working in paint, drawing, print, sculpture, photography and architecture, the exhibition attracts a large annual audience, with 48,000 visitors last year.The award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA, recognises the connection between art and healing.

The shortlisted works are: Brig. Gen. Jimmy Flynn (retd) DSM by Amelia Stein RHA, Venus of Holles Street by Jason Ellis, Extraverted by Killian Schurmann, Seeing Red by Taffina Flood; and Buoyed by Michael Quane RHA.

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Extraverted, by Killian Schurman, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Extraverted, by Killian Schurman, on the shortlist for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Buoyed, by Michael Quane RHA, one of the pieces shortlisted for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. The award recognises the connection between art and healing. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times
Buoyed, by Michael Quane RHA, one of the pieces shortlisted for the 2018 RCSI Art Award, in association with The Irish Times and the RHA Annual Exhibition. The award recognises the connection between art and healing. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill/The Irish Times

Established in 2016, the prize will run for a period of five years until 2020. All works of art, in any medium, selected for the exhibition were considered and the recipient will be announced before it closes. The winner will be awarded €5,000 and the RCSI silver medal, and will also receive a commission to the value of €10,000 for a new work for the RCSI collection.

Professor Cathal Kelly, chief executive registrar of RCSI, said: ‘‘As a focused health sciences institution, we strive to nurture an environment that encourages and inspires innovation in our students, researchers and trainees, for the benefit of human health.

“Now in its third year, the RCSI Art Award continues to deliver an inspiring shortlist of artworks, which evoke a sense of curiosity and wellbeing in those who engage with them. We look forward to announcing the winner later this summer.”

Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan

Hugh Linehan is an Irish Times writer and Duty Editor. He also presents the weekly Inside Politics podcast