Bearings: Landscapes from the IMMA Collection comprises 37 works examining the diverse ways in which artists respond to the landscape. The exhibition looks at how artists engage with the landscape, addressing timeless, fundamental questions about man’s place in the world. As artists attempt to find their bearings in this rapidly-changing environment they are driven to challenging traditional ways of interpreting and framing the landscape.
Political issues of land ownership, colonisation, mapping and borders are addressed by artists such as Willie Doherty and Kathy Prendergast. Works by Sean Scully and Patrick Scott look to the essence of the landscape in their more abstract depictions. Vong Phaophanit’s installation Neon Rice Field integrates both traditional cultural methods of farming and the urbanisation of the landscape. Other urban landscapes are explored in works by artists Oliver Comerford, whose recently acquired painting Out Here III depicts a night-time scene on the periphery of the city, and Beat Klein and Hendrijke Kühne, whose installation Property comments on how our cities expand at an alarming rate, encroaching on the countryside. Hamish Fulton, Dennis Oppenheim and Richard Long engage directly with the earth, their activities in the landscape being essential to the finished artwork.
An exhibition guide accompanies this exhibition (price €1.00)