9/7/2003
Works from the IMMA Collection
Fermoy library, Cork
'If you go down for your books today' combines artworks by Irish and international artists in a wide variety of media and includes a DVD projection by Alanna O'Kelly, sculpture by Dorothy Cross and prints by Albert Irvin.
'If you go down for your books today'
An exhibition of works from the Irish Museum of Modern Art Collection opens to the public
on Thursday 10 July in four branch libraries in County Cork as part
of a collaborative project between County Cork Library and Arts Service and
IMMA's National Programme.
'If you go down for your books today' combines
artworks by Irish and international artists in a wide variety of media and
includes a DVD projection by Alanna O'Kelly, sculpture by Dorothy Cross and
prints by Albert Irvin.
Works in Fermoy library include, Sanctuary/Wastelands, a DVD projection by Irish
artist Alanna O'Kelly. This work was inspired by a walk O'Kelly took around the
town of Teampall Dumach Mhor, or Church of the great Sandbank, at Thallabhawn,
Co Mayo. The site was originally a monastic settlement and was subsequently
used as a burial mound during the famine. When O'Kelly first walked over the
mound constant erosion over the years had woren away the surface and human
skeletal remains had re-emerged alongside the new vegetation. The installation
was created by juxtaposing images of the mound, the bones and the sparse signs
of human habitation that remain along this strip of coast. The Old Man and The
Sea, a set of ten etchings and four screenprints by Scottish artist John
Bellany, can be seen in Bandon library. The works are inspired by Ernest
Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea and portray man's elemental struggle with
nature. Bellany was brought up in the fishing community of Port Seton near
Edinburgh and the theme of the sea and its fisherman are central to his work.
Like Hemingway, Bellany focuses on the human condition - life and death, good
and evil, love and fear.
In Ballincollig library the screenprint, When I woke up this morning the feeling
was still there, by British artist Angus Fairhurst, is part of a series of four
prints, originally included in his London Portfolio. In this work a coloured
panel is deliberately blurred around the edges to suggest the uncertainty of the
emotions mentioned in the title. The emotions portrayed are further heightened
by the contrast of colour, the monochrome background and figure are set against
a vibrant yellow square which the figure holds up to the viewer. In Carrigaline
library, Pink Halls, by Dorothy Cross is a wooden tower structure which, like
many of Cross's works, address gender issues. While the tower rest precariously
on its base, the top of the structure shows a pink interior symbolizing the
female sexual organs.
A series of workshops carried out by Cork-based artists in each library will be
held alongside the exhibition as part of the Branching Out programme supported
by National Irish Bank. In Bandon, print workshops will be carried out by the
Cork Printmakers in response to John Bellany's The Old Man and The Sea. In
Fermoy, the Cork Film Centre will facilitate two-week long courses in video art
and documentation and artist Alanna O'Kelly will give a public talk on her own
art practice on the 14 July in Fermoy Community Centre. Other workshops and
talks will continue throughout the running of the exhibition.
Branching Out is a programme designed by IMMA and National Irish Bank to be
national, inclusive and participative, bringing the visual arts to the community
and providing opportunities for the community to get involved. The National
Programme is designed to create access opportunities to the visual arts in a
variety of situations and locations in Ireland. Using the collection of the
Irish Museum of Modern Art and exhibitions generated by the Museum, the National
Programme facilitates the creation of exhibitions and other projects for display
in a range of locations around the country.
The exhibition will be formerly opened by councilor,
Aileen Pyne, in Fermoy library on Thursday 10 July at 6.30pm.
If you go down for your books today continues until 4 august 2003 at
Ballincollig, Bandon, Carrigaline and Fermoy Libraries, Co Cork.
Image: Alanna O'Kelly, Santuary/Wastelands, DVD
projected installation, Collection Irish Museum of Modern Art
For further information and colour images please contact Monica Cullinane at Tel
: +353 1 612 9900, Fax : +353 1 612 9999
Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital
Military Road
Kilmainham
Dublin 8
Ireland
Phone +353 1 612 9900
Fax +353 1 612 9999
venues: four branch libraries in County Cork
Fermoy library
Ballincollig library
Carrigaline library
Bandon library