CURTIN // KEATING: Sit Stand Smoke
26 April – 5 May
Long Room
Linda Curtin and David Keating’s SIT STAND SMOKE is a brief adventure in a virtual reality (VR) experience with art historian Éimear O’Connor giving insights to the characters that appear in Seán Keating’s iconic painting Men of the South (1921 - 1922).
Eventually, Keating himself shows up with his own view on proceedings. Often considered a traditionalist, the artist seems unexpectedly curious about the new technology on display.
Funny, surprising, and presenting more than the occasional contradiction - one might be reminded of Seán Keating’s own personality, and of his passions and obsessions.
Curtin and Keating Sit Stand Smoke (Hero), 2023 © the artists
22 June – 22 September
Gibson Galleries
‘For close on three miles above Cork the river runs slow and smooth as if reluctant to meet the sea. Pleasant meadows border the stream, meadows in a wide valley, the gateway to the west.’
– Robert Gibbings, Lovely is the Lee (1945)
This exhibition follows the course of the River Lee from its origins in the Shehy Mountains and Gougane Barra in the west to its meeting with the Celtic Sea at the mouth of Cork Harbour.
Artworks from the 1750s through to the present are featured in the exhibition, as it traces perspectives of the river and the stories it has carried and collected.
Much loved paintings, ranging from John Butts’ View of Cork from Audley Place (c.1750) and George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson’s Paddle Steamer Entering the Port of Cork (1842), are joined by the work of artists Sarah Grace Carr, Kate Dobbin, John Fitzgerald, Robert Gibbings, Nathaniel Grogan, Patrick Hennessy, Samuel McDonnell, and George Petrie. Recent acquisitions by Ita Freeney, Bernadette Kiely, and Donald Teskey offer new contexts, while portraits by Richard Barter, Séamus Murphy, and Nano Reid recall rich tales from the Lee Valley by ‘Father Prout’ and The Tailor and Ansty.
Spanning historic and contemporary artworks from the Collection, FROM SOURCE TO SEA celebrates the culture of the River Lee and its tributaries.
Curated by Michael Waldron
