Sometimes Horses . . .

Paul Kane Gallery, Merrion Sq, Dublin Tues-Fri 11am- 6pm, Sat noon-5pm Until May 1

Marc Reilly’s paintings are remarkable both for their immediacy and for their polite indifference to fashionable and commercial considerations. It’s not that they are difficult: they are representational, and his primary subject is landscape. But they’re not conventionally picturesque, and they depend on an urgent, lively engagement with the environment. What comes across is the artist’s intense involvement with being there. Barrie Cooke comes to mind as a close relation, artistically speaking.

A note accompanying Reilly's latest show describes his working method: "almost daily pilgrimages the whole year round to the Clara Laragh region of Wicklow". The watercolours are made on the spot. Those that make up Sometimes Horses . . .depict the horses that occasionally appear in a series of fields along one side of a valley, negotiating their way through gaps in the boundaries.

For Reilly, there is something magical in the advent of these beautiful animals. He speaks of the meditative spell they cast as he stands anticipating their arrival or just remembering their presence. All this comes clearly across in his watercolours.

Can't see that? Catch this

Dublin Painting and Sketching Club 132nd Annual Exhibition Concourse, County Hall, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin Apr 11-25