PEOPLE
In the
FRAME
From painting to performance and sculpture to storytelling, how will the upcoming generation of artists define Irish art? Six of them, who are all exhibiting this summer, share their vision with Gemma Tipton. Photographs by Al Higgins.
T
hey’re well travelled, well connected and well received on the international stage. But is there an outlook that distinguishes an Irish artist anymore? Back in 1971 one of this country’s most successful contemporary artists, Brian O’Doherty, described Irish art’s “restless fix on the unimportant”. This wasn’t pejorative, rather O’Doherty was pinpointing a genius for grasping at those smaller things – the “bits around the edges” – that have just as strong an influence on our lives and hearts and minds, as those grand central narratives of famous people, huge events and affairs of state. Despite the recession, Irish contemporary art is in a good place. Sean Scully is feted around the world; Dorothy Cross recently showed to great acclaim at the Turner Margate and the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin; Richard Mosse had one of the most successful installations yet at the Irish pavilion in the 2013 Venice Biennale; and London-based Irish artist Eva Rothschild has just returned to Dublin with a triumphant exhibition at the Hugh Lane Gallery (until September 21; hughlane.ie). But what of the next generation? Which artists will be making and shaping Irish art over the coming decades? From painting to performance, sculpture to storytelling, to serving food as art, the six artists profiled here represent a generation with something to say – not just about being an artist in Ireland but about what it means to be a person in the world. They are also all exhibiting this summer, so plan your trip, and prepare to be beguiled, provoked, fascinated, delighted, moved and also very well fed.
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JULY 2014