In conjunction with a conference in Waterford about Domestic Violence, COSC, the National Office for the Prevention of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, ran an art competition for under-graduate art students. The best of the submissions were exhibited at The Coast Guard Station in Tramore.
Jamie Murphy, a WIT student, got 3rd Prize for SAFE – a photostudy of a toilet as a place of refuge and peace with a liminal image of a young person set among the clinical toilet fittings. Other WIT entries on show were Jenna Whelan with ‘A Doll’s House’, featuring toys in posed positions in again, a clinical white space. Kevin Quirke had a splendid study ‘Happiness And Hostility’, featuring an ominous swing in a play area – an almost twilight zone – with a sign reading Caution. Breda Flanagan had ‘Hide And Seek’ with a plaintive face behind a wooden frame giving a new suggestion to a children’s game.
The winning painting ‘Shepherd’s Delight’ had lots of graphic colour, a pink sky, s brown-eyed baby, a rose, pandas, a family, chicks, a happy Buddah, a church with lots of annexes, a Chinese pagoda house and a building with golden domes by Jason Dunne (NCAD).
I enjoyed the work of Susan O’Brien (NCAD) ‘A New Dawn’ with a woman in a skewed bed, a doll in her hand, venetian blinds, a red sunset, a dark bird, a sad boy sitting on a stool, hands clasped. The perspectives were deliberately askew to make the viewer consider the position.
David Eager-Maher (NCAD) with 1534 had a work of fabric images, broaches, detailed but faded drawings with typewritten words like – grand arse – mind your language – go Harvey go. There was also statuary, a hot air balloon and cherubs.
Exhibition runs until 15 June.
