Art

Portraits of children: This week’s visual arts highlights

Art inspired by Ulysses, the Burren annual and the search for perfection

Put Yourself in the Picture, The Ark portrait project in Dublin Castle

Aidan Dunne's face
Aidan Dunne
Sat Jun 15 2019 - 05:00


Put Yourself in the Picture – Portrait drawings of children
Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle Gardens Until July 31st, ark.ie
As part of The Ark's Festival of Children, an exhibition from the newly-commissioned collection of more than 100 portrait drawings of children by some of Ireland's best-known artists, many well known for their skills as portraitists. That includes Brian Maguire, Blaise Smyth, Conor Walton, Dorothy Smith, PJ Lynch, Una Sealy, Gabhann Dunne, Sahoko Blake, Cian McLoughlin, Kathy Tynan, Vera Klute and Alison Pilkington.

Olives, Oysters & Oranges, A Bloomsday group exhibition
Olivier Cornet Gallery, 3 Great Denmark St, Dublin Until June 30th oliviercornetgallery.com
Olivier Cornet has put together a Bloomsday group show of work by five artists. They are Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Yanny Petters, Michelle Boyle, Áine Divine and John Keating, and all show watercolours inspired by references to food – of which there are many – in Ulysses. Each of the five artists takes a distinctive approach, from Petters' botanical precision to Mac Lochlainn's portrait-like potato studies.

The Second Coming (Do What Thou Wilt), Kendell Geers
Rua Red, South Dublin Arts Centre, Tallaght, Dublin. Until August 16th ruared.ie

Kendell Geers aims to recreate or reopen the Hell Fire Club, “a full three centuries after William Conolly purchased Montpelier Hill”, but this time within the walls of Rua Red. Expect to encounter WB Yeats and his daemonic anti-self, the Berber son of Muhammad, al-Hasan, born in Granada in 1494 and later known as Leo Africanus. All bets are off as you cross a threshold beneath a sign that warns against “curators, consultants, cynics, hypocrites” and many others. Sylwia Serafinowicz of a/political curates.

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The Burren Annual, Saeri Kiritani and Dario Solman
The Gallery, Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare. Until September 6th burrencollege.ie
Kiritani, from Japan, and Solman, from Croatia, both address the theme of the journey in different ways in an exhibition encompassing video installation, animation and digital prints. The former explores the search for refuge in contemporary Europe, the latter looks to the search for meaning in art.

Perfection
Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, Pearse St, Dublin June 21st-October 6th Dublin sciencegallery.com
The Science Gallery's latest jamboree takes as its starting point a project that originated at Science Gallery Melbourne. The theme is the way scientific and technological developments encourage an impulse to "modify, hack and transform" our selves and our lives into our personal ideal of perfection. Artists, musicians, mathematicians, architects, designers, psychologists and surgeons get involved. Spoiler alert: it's an imperfect world.