Quadrant, the annual selected exhibition at the Belltable, Limerick, presents the work of four artists this year. Strong formal concerns mark the stark monochromes of Brian Fay. These closely rendered graphite and acrylic canvases evoke a palpable stillness, a landscape of the mind positioned within tensions of a tightly controlled sense of order.
Alan Phelan is represented by two photographic works. These both press home the physicality of the mark-making process. The semantic field of Reflecting Pond is undercut by the photogram technique which transforms the textual signs into a series of images. This piece, made up of 40 small rectangles placed on a larger black rectangle, is mounted on the floor. The forms of sculpture, image and text interact, lending a spruce energy to the work.
Aileen Lambert, concerned with the sound properties of language, has positioned a one minute tape on a looped recording at the gallery stairwell. The work consists of two notes dictated by the artist's breath accompanied by the beaten rhythm of her heartbeat. These primal utterances are salutary reminders of the sophisticated chains of marks and sound that effect meaning.
A "network of rhythms", John Cunningham's own phrase, is a useful introduction to his work. Tribal Gathering VI-XV, a series of acrylic and oil paintings, draws attention to an uncanny landscape, water, earth and chaos meet in tight, busy frames. Lapwing incorporates a perspex tank bubbling with water and a spinning disk.