Directions Out

Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.

25 March-2 May 1987




Walk IV, Lurgan, silver gelatin print, toners and watercolours, 45.5cms x 45.5cms, 1985 ©Victor Sloan

Work by artists from Northern Ireland is seen sporadically in Dublin in both group exhibitions and one man shows. Directions Out aims, for the first time, to present a focus on work produced there specifically in the period since 1969.

In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, Brian McAvera argues that seventeen years of what is “quaintly” called “The Troubles” has ensured that the life experience of artists in the North, especially of those generations whose formative years coincide with the post-1969 period, is markedly different from their Southern confreres.

Much contemporary Northern art absorbs this experience, almost by osmosis. Artists create a layered but oblique response to political, social and religious concerns. They eschew the simplicities of media reportage, ignore the black and white of agit prop and seek to reflect - and reflect on - the Northern experience.

This exhibition aims to explore that response by focusing on work in a variety of media-painting, sculpture, photography, print-and includes Diamuid Delargy, Fergus Delargy, Willie Doherty, Graham Gingles, Gerry Gleason, John Kindness, Colin McGookin, Liam Magee, Locky Morris, Dermot Seymour, Victor Sloan, Chris Wilson.

The exhibition is not synoptic, though the essay by Brian McAvera seeks to place these artists within a broad context of current Northern work.

The presentation of this exhibition in Dublin has been assisted by the British Council.
Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
( t ) + 353 1 608 1116
( f ) + 353 1 670 8330
( e ) dhgallery@tcd.ie

The Arts Council supports the Douglas Hyde Gallery