8 February–23 March 2002

Germinations 13 - Touching from a Distance is an exhibition curated by Kati Kivinen (Finland) which explores insights into new communicative technologies by nine young European artists: Johanna Domke & Friederike Rückert (DK/DE), Sophie H. Ernst (NL), Matias Faldbakken (NO), Ursula Groser (AT), Janusz Grünspek (DE), Katie Holten (IR), Noëlle Pujol (FR) and Sami Sorvali (FI).

As a starting point for the project many questions and ideas surrounding the subject of communication in the era of the new technologies were raised. Issues such as what effect modern communication technologies have on interpersonal relations, and the possibilities and risks of an unlimited exchange of information are central theme of the exhibition. The aim of the project is to make people aware of and to visualise the way the new technologies change and construct our reality.

The exhibition Touching from a Distance is one of five such exhibitions, held over a four month period in five different European cities, under the common title 'Germinations 13'. All these exhibitions are initiated and organised by the cultural foundation 'Germinations Europe', based in Antwerp, Belgium, which has been working for young European artists starting their professional career for 20 years. As reaction towards the recent changes in the field of exhibition making 'germinations europe' in 2000 launched 'germinations 13', a new concept that focuses on 'curating'. Within a European-wide contest five curators were selected, to realise and to develop their exhibition concepts reflecting current themes of the international art scene. (For further information please visit: www.germinations.org)

For further information please contact:
Dawn Williams, Exhibitions Officer,
Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Emmet Place, Cork, Ireland
phone +353 (0) 21 427 33 77, fax +353(0) 21 480 50 43,
e-mail: crawfordexhibs@eircom.net
or
Kati Kivinen, Co-ordinator, FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange,
Lönnrotinkatu 39 B 13, FIN-00180 Helsinki, phone (+358 9) 612 64 220, fax
(+358 9) 612 64 230, e-mail: kati.kivinen@frame-fund.fi; www.frame-fund.fi

Although highly acclaimed in critical and artistic circles, the work of the Irish painter Patrick Swift has rarely been publicly exhibited in Ireland since his few early shows in the 1950s. At that time his place in the pantheon of Irish art seemed certain. The art critic of the Irish Times noted the merciless scrutiny of his style, and the way he drew from his subjects some sort of tension which is the property of their existence.Swift moved to London, and became editor of the literary magazine X, which published articles by, and reviews of such figures as Giacommetti and Francis Bacon. He was a respected literary figure himself, yet painting always called to him. The vogue at the end of the 50s for abstract painting was not to his taste, nor could he work with academic realism. He sought an expression of life and human creativity which was meaningful and accessible, yet intensely personal, and inspired by emotion, by landscape. It seemed Ireland and England restricted him. Swift emigrated to Portugal in 1962. He later set up a pottery in the Algarve, whose part in the revival of the regional craft has been recognised. Here Swift made a huge contribution to the popularisation of the Algarve, and to the recognition of the beauty of Portugal's landscape, history and culture. He virtually ceased showing his paintings, and the 1993 IMMA retrospective was a late reminder of Swift's significance as an Irish painter.

This new exhibition, opening on 5 April, will include many Algarve works never previously seen in Ireland. These are some of his most resonant works, where he has found his voice, and in the invigorating new climate the change in his painting was towards an enhanced sensuous warmth, a sense of the integrity of light and a feeling of the integration with nature, of painter and viewer (Richard Morphet, keeper, Tate Britain)

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue.
Further information from Dawn Williams, Exhibition Officer 021 4273377

5 April–18 May 2002

Graduating from Crawford School of Art in 1957 John O'Leary was awarded a Gibson Bequest Scholarship and spent the following year in France where he studied at the Atelier d'André Lhote following in the footsteps of Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone. However, instead of adopting the predominant cubist doctrinaire style, O'Leary was impressed by the teachings of the Russian abstract painter Serge Poliakoff. Although his earlier works explore the line and the figurative it is clear O'Leary's later works reveal the extent of his absorption and passion of the abstract.

Equally, John O'Leary was a fundamental influence on many of today's successful contemporary artists. Having taught in both the Crawford School of Art and the Sligo Regional Technical College, his tuition was strongly based on direct observation and drawing from nature yet one in which he encouraged self-reliance on the part of the student. O'Leary was also instrumental in evolving Ireland's leading small works exhibition - Iontas.

John O'Leary Retrospective will tour to two further venues - Sligo Art Gallery and Model Arts and Niland Gallery - both exhibiting concurrently from May 29 - June 21. The retrospective will feature over eighty works drawn from private and public collections and, in addition, will feature previously unseen sketches and photographs from the Estate of John O'Leary which provide an evocative insight to O'Leary's genuine commitment to the study and teaching of art.

A catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition.

7 June–10 August 2002

Margaret Fitzgibbon is a multimedia sculptor based in Ireland. The mediaeval term "Hortus Conclusus" has become the grounding concept for an installation through which she has explored ideologies of The Garden and links between architectural space and physical experience. Opening hours: Monday - Saturday 10am-5pm (Admission Free). Full wheelchair access.

7 June–10 August 2002

Janet Mullarney is an Irish sculptor based in Italy. Recent residencies in both Mexico and Ireland have informed the nature of her work and its relation to space. An exploratory variety of media is used to construct her works of haunting presence and psychological implication.