View from the Green Room: HO HO HO…A Christmas cracker of an exhibition
South East Art Group exhibition.
South East Artists held their fourth Christmas exhibition at Tramore and, as I write, those precious red dots of “sold” have appeared all over the Protestant Hall on Church Road. And it’s not just the sale that’s important to artists. It’s the value that people place on the work and the personal pride that someone is getting great pleasure from hanging your work in their home.
It takes courage to exhibit because not everyone will appreciate your picture. It’s the way of the world and the perspective of people who experience the world through different lenses.
I’m delighted to see new appear in the pictures – an indication that the group is thriving and attracting new members.
Lillian O’Sullivan finds inspiration in seascapes. A dark blue midnight sea finds a sliver of silver shivelight rippling across the horizon in a tranquillity that beguiles in ‘Edge of the Last Light’ and ‘Gentle Silence’. ‘Low Tide’ catches the eye with a small sailing boat and an even smaller punt sitting patiently on tidal sand flats.
David Smyth’s work on the Copper Coast reminds of just what copper means in subtle frames that blush with mellow bronze and autumn blushes.
It’s not all paintings, either. Susan Flynn works on salvaged slate with ink and resin. ‘Storm Amy’ certainly cooks up a storm of angry reds, while her ‘Inky Pink Sunset’ and ‘Raging Tide’ does just what it says on the slates.
Ann Greenan’s ‘Carried by the Sea Spray’ is a bundle of wind-blown blue and frothy energy, while her ‘To the Waters and the Wild’ with a small bothán in the bleakest of winter landscapes sends shivers.
Jill Hinks’s pictures two early morning surfers in search of waves in a tranquil ‘Ready to Surf’ and contrasts the evening’s dark cliffs and amber waves in ‘Dramatic Annestown’.
There’s a stillness to Yvonne Kidd’s work that captures the attention. A storm wall walker and his dog on the Pier Wall ponder the depth of the water in ‘Is it deep enough’ – for what I wonder? – and her deserted walkway as evening shadows spread on Tramore’s ‘Ladies Slip’ is an intruguing puzzle of desertion – just where is everybody?
There are some incredibly detailed drawings here. Staring eyes in ‘King of the Lab’ and ‘Zsa Zsa in her Fedora Hat’ startle, while John Gallagher’s pop icon prints of Kurt Cobain and Sinéad O’Connor set the memory store in motion.
There’s an epic quality to Ann Fripps' work. Cliffs sweep down to ‘Duncannon Beach’ with nonchalance, while ‘Eagles Rock’ is a forbidding landscape of rocky terrain speckled with scant and begrudging growth.
It’s impossible to escape Eleanor Horan’s work. Her ‘Calf’ has bullock’s eyes that haunt any wannabee calf lover and her magnificent ‘Bull – Law of the Land’ would delight any John B Keane fan. Piercing eyes, horrified expression, arms raised in exasperation all mark Bull McCabe out as a figure to fear with an elemental rage. I wouldn’t be crossing that lad now!
Deirdre O’Sullivan’s watercolour has some interesting reflections on imagination in ‘Dreaming in Haze’, 'Currents of Colour’ and ‘Autumn Sunset’. Cornwall’s Tor McIntosh brings a touch of her Lands End experience and love of coastlines to the exhibition with works like ‘Tewyn', 'Dowr Sail' and 'Hager Rawel’.
There’s a line of fun cartoon-like figures from artist Kiki that would cheer any soul on a cold December afternoon.
Ann Greenan also likes to work in watercolours and finds her inspiration in the natural landscape. Ann is an artist who has a keen eye for detail and colour. Her titles are clever and witty... ’The Metalman Saw Red'… 'Electric Blues on the Back Strand'… 'This Sky’s the Limit’ all capture the spirit of the work.
Jimmy O’Brien-Moran is here also with a selection of landscapes. I love the Venice watercolour a la Turner and the ‘Stormy Headland’ at Brownstown tells its own story.
Michael Molloy works mainly in charcoal and oil with mood and atmosphere his main concerns. I love Michael’s ‘Snow Buddha’ that finds its quirky inspiration in the hollow of a gaunt winter’s tree on a snow-covered forest trail.
Yvonne Kidd clearly loves the Ladies Slip as much as half of Tramore, although the inspiration comes from the late-evening deserted slipway when the days' swimmers have long since departed. ‘Evening Stroll’ and ‘Late Friday Night’ on the Ladies Slip are moody-broody half-urbanscapes of isolation and contemplation.
There’s a table of arts and crafts here courtesy of Marese Murray and Tramore Shore Pendants but the picture that sends my imagination racing is Tara Fennell’s intriguingly titled ‘2+2=7’ – a play on the synergy principal of two and two making five. The picture is a collage of geometric shapes that prompt a three dimensional response to the squares that morph into rhombuses as shapes mirror colours in a brilliant composition that’s certainly enough to keep me thinking over all of Christmas.
A superb exhibition from South East Artists that’s simply choc-a-block with colour, subject matter and variety.
