Gillian Kenny
A Place to Stay
June 11th – July 12th 2009
Behind Smoke and Mirrors
Curated by Susan Holland, Shinnors Curatorial Scholarship
Residencies 15th June – 10th July /
Exhibition 17th July – 30th August 2009
Carnegie Building, Pery Square, Limerick, Ireland.
Gillian Kenny – A Place to StayGillian Kenny presents her first museum exhibition of over thirty new paintings. Her sources for the work include a collection of old picture postcards, self generated images of her travels in Canada and North America and of her hometown, Limerick, Ireland. These images offer a rich vein of constructed land, city and seascape to work through. Kenny, in A Place to Stay moves from her previous direct engagement with the subject of urban spaces to these idealised or constructed representations.
Kenny’s pictorial odyssey precedes from the early appropriated childhood memories of Kilkee, Co. Clare, Ireland, onto a depiction of the Dublin airport terminal with a cosy green Aer Lingus Aeroplane. Motels feature in her paintings, places she stayed in and photographed. Travelling North through upstate New York we are presented with an icon of early tourism, the spectacular visitor attraction ‘Niagara Falls’. Here Kenny creates a vibrant amalgam of the falls and a trail of yellow poncho clad tourists which makes the site and the visitor one circular entity.
The social history of travel is alluded to. There is a familiarity involved, partly due to the appropriation of highly saturated Hinde and Dollard postcards. These were perhaps found in Kenny’s research, as keepsakes of relatives of early holidays and reflections of mass tourism in its early stages. The destinations featured in the paintings include Blackpool, Dublin Airport, the Italian Riviera and several wonderful poolside images.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Limerick City Gallery of Art.
Gillian Kenny
Gillian Kenny studied Fine Art Painting at Limerick School of Art and Design and completed a Masters in Belfast in 2003. She is based in Limerick. Kenny has been recipient of awards from the Arts Council, The Department of Arts Culture and Leisure, Belfast and the Countess Markievicz medal (United Arts Club).
Behind Smoke and Mirrors Curated by Susan Holland, Shinnors Curatorial Scholarship
Aideen BARRY, Bernardine Carroll/Maggie SHIRLEY, Garvan GALLAGHER, Carl GIFFNEY, Emma WADE
Residencies 15th June – 10th July 2009
Exhibition 17th July – 30th August 2009
The artist’s studio is thought of as a mythical place where creativity is inspired, closeted from the world. Behind Smoke and Mirrors presents an alternate view, allowing visitors direct insights into the spaces where art is made and into the processes artists employ. This laboratory environment turns the gallery into studios, bringing together five exciting young artists to develop new works in this public context. Aideen Barry, Bernardine Carroll / Maggie Shirley, Garvan Gallagher, Carl Giffney and Emma Wade have been invited to develop new projects in response to their experience of Limerick and working in Limerick City Gallery of Art. The artists’ studios are constructed in LCGA’s upstairs galleries and after the residency the artists will spill out to encompass the whole gallery presenting an extensive exhibition of the work in development.
SEMINAR: IN SITE, Residencies in Public Friday 17th July 2009, 3.30 – 5.30pm
This seminar discusses the issues raised in locating the production and development of art in public contexts and the dialogue which this generates.
Chair: Susan Holland, Curator of Behind Smoke & Mirrors.
Speakers: Aideen Barry, Visual Artist/Writer; Philip Delemere, Roscommon Arts Officer; Carl Giffney, Visual Artist, Magdalena Jitrik, Visual Artist; Cliodhna Shaffery, Independent Curator/Writer; Sarah Tuck, Director of CREATE.
LIMERICK CITY GALLERY OF ART
Supported by the Arts Council, Shannon Development and Fáilte Ireland
Open 7 days. Admission is FREE
W: www.gallery.limerick.ie T: +353 (0)61 310633 E: artgallery@limerickcity.ie
