It’s the 189th annual RHA exhibition, yes the 189th and the first to take place under the aegis of a female academy president – the artist Abigail O’Brien.
The premise is artists can submit up to three works at a cost of €30 each. A selection is made from the 2700 works they received and if your work makes the final 10% or so and is sold, the RHA will take 35% commission and you will pocket the rest. As an exhibition, it enables everyone to decide what they may like or dislike with a broad sweep of the current canvas of the Irish art world.
Does the world need another painted Coca-Cola bottle even by a distinguished artist such as Neil Shawcross? Hmm!
Some stand-outs for us include: Jack Hickey’s ‘Age of Innocence’, Vera Klute’s bust of Eileen Gray, Gabhann Dunne’s ‘Pink Hare’, Lars Nyberg’s ‘Winter Road’, James Hanley’s ‘David and Goliath’, Charles Harper’s ‘Maidens’, Maria Simonds-Goodings ‘Salt Fields’, Ishmael Clayton’s ‘Fuzzy Future’, Katherine Sankey’s ‘Protist’, Jeanette Lowe’s ‘Skip Sculpture’, Eddie Kennedy’s ‘Bathers’ and John Rainey’s ‘Flay 1’
RHA until August 10
