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Carn artist competes for top Irish
prize
17.10.16
INISHOWEN artist Marty
Kelly will compete for the biggest prize in Irish
contemporary art at the Royal Hibernian Association
gallery next month.
The €5,000 Vue Contemporary Art Prize presented by
Savills will be awarded to the artist who has
produced "an outstanding body of work in the last
year or made some other substantial contribution to
the visual arts in Ireland".
Nineteen of Ireland’s top contemporary art galleries
have each nominated an artist as a contender for the
prize.
RHA director Dr Patrick Murphy, who has an extensive
track record as a curator of contemporary Irish art,
will adjudicate.
Carndonagh native Kelly has been nominated by the
Gibbons and Nicholas gallery in Dublin, where he
completed "There'll be no bloody bluebirds", a
series inspired by the current migrant crisis in
Europe. |
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Left, 'Cameo' by Marty Kelly which is
part of the new series of paintings by the
Carndonagh artist exploring our reaction to the
migrant crisis in Europe. Right, Marty Kelly. |
After seeing the White
Cliffs of Dover on a return trip from Calais, Kelly
was reminded of the patriotic song by Dame Vera Lynn
and decided to use the bluebird as a metaphor for
refugees.
The series explores issues of unity and separatism
and how we identify with each other through
compassion, love, gratitude, acceptance, pity and
fear.
“My current work investigates how we identify
ourselves,” said Kelly.
“Why do we see someone else’s experience of life as
being wholly separate from our own? Compassion is
seeing ourselves in each other rather than fear.
Work is for me part of a daily meditation exploring
these issues and states of being." Opening hours for
Vue 2016 at the RHA in Dublin are 6-8pm on Thursday,
November 3, 11am-8pm on Friday, November 4, 11am-7pm
on Saturday, November 5, and 12-6pm on Sunday,
November 6. |
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