On the Town: Ball dresses, bulls, boats and a white horse all feature in a joint show, Connections, which opened this week in Dublin's Blue Leaf Gallery.
Work by Gerard McGourty and Christine Bowen "challenges us to value the natural world, which is under great threat", said Alice Leahy, director and co-founder of Trust, a health and social service for people who are homeless, on opening the joint show.
The work of the two artists "is a real celebration of our world . . . I have found artists among the most supportive and understanding of our work, probably because, in some senses, to be effective they too must become or are forced to become outsiders", Leahy said.
She described McGourty's work as "alive with colour and reminders of his place, Fermanagh", while Bowen's Chilean Salmon "made me think how hard it is to swim against the tide".
Among those who came to the opening night was Sr Fiona Fisher, of St Patrick's Cathedral, and Geri McAuliffe, of Trust.
Limerick artist Kate Hennessy, who was there with her friend, Mary O'Hanlon, will have an exhibition, Voyage of Madelún, at Limerick County Library from Thursday, July 7th for three weeks.
Pat Boyle and her friend, Paddy Patten, both from Raheny, were also among the opening night group. "The colours are beautiful," said Boyle of Bowen's Builder's Ball Dress painting. McGourty's The Boat is "really strong", said Patten.
Bowen, who is based in Kenmare, said some of her work is inspired by the sixth- century saint, Melangell, the patron saint of hares. Leahy said she especially loved Bowen's painting, St Melangell Hare, and "that eye, the ear alert", reminding her of her native Co Tipperary.
"The multifarious species that share the planet with us . . . are too often the victims of our ingenuity and affluence," said Bowen.
McGourty, who will represent Ireland in the International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Florence in December, said his paintings usually "start with a very loose idea . . . and then they evolve. My painting is often experimental". McGourty was, he said, just back from visiting Basle in Switzerland, where the biggest art fair in the world is held.
Connections will continue at Blue Leaf Gallery, 4a Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin 2, until Wed, July 6