All cities are mad: but the madness is gallant. All cities are beautiful: but the beauty is grim.

Christopher Morley

Soft-shelled, we armour ourselves with technology. We build human cities, our correlate to anthills and beehives. As a social species, like ants and bees, our well-being depends upon mutual aid, social networks, and culture adaptions – of which technology is manifested.

How cities shape consumption, promote health and equity, and nurture creative collaboration may determine the arc of the planet’s future. Urban management may be the ultimate multiplier, either minimizing poverty and supporting equitable cities or hastening the collapse of ecosystems. This may be especially true in small to medium cities, where most of the population growth will occur; these cities, however, will also face a dearth of skilled managers.

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‘Ugly Beauty’ is a series of portraits of some of the main models in Ireland, depicting the raw emotion, and absence of pretence of strong modern women. There will be three head shots per model; the first, a stripped bare unveiling of natural beauty, without make-up;

the second, entitled Women Curse, will capture the ugly expression of emotion;

and thirdly, each model will react to a hand written word or emotion with which they closely identify.

This display of black and white images touches on the vulnerability of women whilst feeling ugly emotions, yet still depicts them as strong and competent individuals.

There will also be an audio-visual film on loop, which will show the models cursing in different tones and through different emotions.

The exhibition launches on the 16th on December, and will run for a week in the lead up to Christmas at Moxie Studios on Lad Lane.

OPENING RECEPTION FRIDAY, DEC. 2, 6PM SHOW OPEN DAILY 12 -5 THRU SUNDAY DEC 11

A Collaborative Exhibition Of Artists From Four Dublin Studio Complexes

November 18-28 2011

In a remote part of northern Madagascar there is a legend. One day a lost traveller, thirsty and exhausted, arrived in a village asking for water. The village chief explained that he wished they had enough water to demonstrate the tribe’s natural goodwill towards strangers but unfortunately as water was such a scarce and valuable resource, they would have to refuse his request. The traveller who happened to be a witch doctor left empty handed. However, on the way out of the village he met a young pregnant woman. Seeing that he was thirsty she offered him the last of her water. Furious with the lack of kindness shown by the village yet heartened by the kindness of the woman, he cursed the village with the chief痴 two wishes; that they would have enough water to satisfy the thirst of strangers, and that the villagers would show their true selves. In the morning the village was completely flooded and all the inhabitants except the young woman had been turned into crocodiles. Today it is said that the local people are all decendents of the woman who gave the stranger water. The locals feel an affinity with and sympathy towards the crocodiles and offerings of zebu meat are made on religious festivals.
This tale is taken as a starting point for an engagement with social and gender history. Drawn from the artist’s personal experience, themes of isolation and vulnerability are explored. Individual acts of kindness and affection are contrasted with societal greed. Questions are posed around the individual’s relationship with her surroundings. These questions are interwoven throughout the narrative, allowing metaphors to emerge. The artist draws on her own photographic archive taken while documenting her travels. Theatre and literature are also referenced to explore human vulnerability.
Beatrice O’Connell graduated from the BA in Fine Art, DIT in 1996. She had her first solo exhibition in that year in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.
O’Connell has had solo exhibitions in the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, The Hunt Museum, Limerick, The Lambay House Art Gallery, Howth, The Talbot Gallery, Dublin and the Cross Gallery, Dublin.

O’Connell has been the recipient of various awards at ﾍontas, ﾉigse Carlow and a Dublin Corporation Bursary.
She has participated in many group exhibitions in Ireland, the UK, US and Australia including the Annual Wexford Opera Festival Exhibition, ﾍontas, Oireachtas, ﾉigse Carlow and Temple Bar Gallery.

She has completed commissions for public and private clients. Her work is in various public collections such as the OPW and AXA Insurance and private collections in Ireland, the UK, US and Australia.

beatriceoconnell.blogspot.com

Opening reception November 10th, 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition continues until November 21st
Gallery opening times: Mon – Sat 12.00 – 17.00

The World is not the Universe is a solo exhibition by Dublin based artist, Sharon White. The exhibition’s focus is on interpretations of fact and functionality. Each piece is based on a recognisable object e.g. a blanket, a branch, a lifebuoy. The artist transforms her subjects into versions of themselves where one particular aspect of the objects’ original make-up is altered.

Sharon White’s work deals with themes of metamorphisis, detierioration and regeneration. While her practice has encompassed a variety of media, it is mainly through sculpture and the use of found objects and recycled material that she makes her work. Past bodies of work have concentrated on the human body, utilising the shapes and forms as well as the personalities of found materials to replicate the structures found within our anatomy. The relationship between artefact and meaning and how this can be reordered to create a new narrative is a key concern of White, particularly for this exhibition.

Previous exhibitions of Sharon White’s work include: Oddio, Exchange Dublin in colaboration with Aine Belton,2010. Earwig!Tuam Arts festival, various locations, Tuam Co. Galway, 2010.Shop if You Can, Look if You Want, St. Patricks Day Festival, various locations, 2010. Scribble Box, Bombhouse Gallery and Studios, group show, 2009.

Image: Life Buoy 2011