Adam's of St Stephen's Green, in conjunction with Suzanne MacDougald, formerly of Solomon Fine Art, will host a timed online sale of artworks to aid the Irish Red Cross humanitarian work for the people of Ukraine. The catalogue of over 35 works is now online, with bidding ending on April 7th. With no reserves and no buyer's premium, bidding will open for each lot at 50 per cent of the low estimate. The sale hopes to raise €50,000.
Featuring both Irish and international artists, Duck is a lovely bronze by Irish-Ukrainian artist Vadim Tuzov, who regularly exhibits at Solomon Fine Art Gallery, and has garnered a considerable following for his realistic small animals. Also featured is German-born artist Holger A Baehr, who lives in Co Longford, and is better known in his native Germany, where his work sells for many thousands of euro.
Highlights include John Behan’s large and haunting Liffey Oar Boat, a bronze with a white chalky patina, which is expected to make in excess of €5,000 and Rowan Gillespie’s Kneeling Girl, a tender nude from 1982 (€3,000-€5,000).
For fans of Orla de Brí, Cross Bearer, which resonates with a St Brigid's cross, will be of interest (€1,500-€2,000) while a piece of Louise Kennedy couture in the form of a black beaded crepe evening jacket is expected to fetch €300-€500
War Paint, Conrad Frankel's third solo exhibition at the Olivier Cornet Gallery on Denmark Street in Dublin, opens on April 12th. Running until May, 20 per cent of the sales will go to the Irish Red Cross for the Ukraine relief effort.
"When Russian forces invaded Ukraine, and Putin began his ultra-violent smash up, I felt compelled to turn my attention to the war as an artist," says Frankel, whose work is included in the Bank of Ireland and Office of Public Works collections. From families fleeing and the haunting image of a pregnant woman on a stretcher, to the image of Vladimir Putin in his giant echo chamber, these paintings will resonate with anyone who has watched news of the invasion.
Eileen Gray
Ending on April 3rd is Precarious Freedom: Crowds, Flags, Barriers, an exhibition by Belfast artist Joy Gerrard, at the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny, of paintings created over the past two years. Known for work that investigates different systems of relations between crowds, architecture and the built environment, using Japanese ink on paper, the exhibition is curated by Aoife Ruane of the Highlanes Gallery in Drogheda, where it was first shown.
With the 2021 Zurich Portrait Prize in his pocket for Me Ma Healing Me, Salvatore of Lucan (28) has a new exhibition, open now at the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery on Chancery Lane in Dublin. Entitled Dead Present, the show ends on April 23rd. The title of the show refers to a painting of dead flowers by the artist, who was also awarded the Whyte's Award and nominated for the Hennessy Craig award.
Currently open at Wexford County Council is Making and Momentum: In Conversation with Eileen Gray, a touring exhibition curated by Richard Malone, the Irish artist and designer. It is being run in partnership with Association Cap Moderne, the charitable foundation established in 2014 to restore and open the Cap Moderne site at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in France. The Unesco World Heritage site contains two bastions of contemporary architecture: Irish designer Eileen Gray's E1027 seaside villa and Swiss French architect Le Corbusier's Cabanon, both historic monuments.
The exhibition is a celebration of Gray's work and global influence across many disciplines and brings together ceramicist Sara Flynn; sculptor Niamh O'Malley (who represents Ireland at Venice Biennale 2022); artist Laura Gannon; rug maker Ceadogán; Mourne Textiles; Nellie Malone, the late grandmother of Richard Malone; and an archive work by the late abstract painter Mainie Jellett.
Solomon Fine Art will host its annual Spring Group exhibition commencing April 7th showcasing new works by gallery and invited artists including Margo Banks, Jean Bardon, John Behan, Leah Beggs, Tom Climent, Eamon Colman, Julie Cusack, Orla de Brí, Ana Duncan and Margaret Egan. From Stephanie Hess's dancing rabbit in Moon Dance, and Eilis O'Connell's bronze Hole Stones, to Margaret Egan's dark and misty Sandymount, there is lots of choice to suit all tastes.
Opening at its Lisburn Road gallery in Belfast on April 9th, Gormley's Fine Art will hold an exhibition of new works by Stephen Johnson. Entitled Thrones, Johnson's modern surrealist style "aims to start a conversation among his audience" and this experimental body of work "focuses on chairs and their significance within a given context".
Shortlisted for the Hennessy Portrait award in 2015 and 2016, Johnson won the De Veres Art Award at the RHA in 2012, and was selected as the KPMG Best Emerging Artist at the Royal Ulster Academy in 2016.
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