Flair, strength and ambition

There were many great shows throughout 2011 demonstrating the fantastic quality of Irish art, writes AIDAN DUNNE

THE VISUAL ARTS in Ireland have never been stronger. Alas they’ve matured just as the economic fabric that helps to sustain them has largely disintegrated. A succession of solo shows throughout the last year and participation by Irish artists in group events, demonstrated the fantastic quality of Irish art.

The year began on a high note with Eilis O'Connell's superb sculpture show, Haptic, at the RHA in January. The exceptionally resourceful and productive Sean Lynch maintained a hectic schedule, including a fine solo show at The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon and Me Jewel & Darlin',a public artwork in O'Connell St, Dublin in April (his current curatorial project A Rocky Roadis at the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork until January 14th).

April also saw the fragmentary visual narratives of Simon English's beautifully novelistic Nothing Lasts Foreverat the Cross Gallery and Charles Tyrrell's outstanding show at the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan.

May brought Jackie Nickerson's terrific exposition of the way societies are constructed in T he Past is Another Countryat Millennium Court in Portadown. The following month we saw Vanessa Donoso Lopez's mediation on the fate of the Spanish Armada at Kevin Kavanagh, Grande, feliz e invincible, and Kevin Cosgrove's understated though brilliant paintings in Just the Usualat Mother's Tankstation.

Aideen Barry had a busy year, with substantial shows in the Galway Arts Festival in July and later On Tenterhooksat the Millennium Court Arts Centre in Portadown in October, furthering her investigation into obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Also in Galway, Jay Murphy's Hydroat the Norman Villa Gallery in Galway was a vivid exploration in paint of the Ardnacrusha hydroelectric works, suggesting the harmonious co-existence of nature and engineering.

Gerard Byrne, meanwhile, consolidated his position as an artist with a significant international profile with Through the Eyes, a very good survey show at IMMA from July to October – and participation in the Venice Biennale at the invitation of director Bice Curiger.

At Kevin Kavanagh Gallery in August Eamon O'Doherty's excellent survey show was, sadly, a posthumous event. In September a number of Irish artists shone in a generally lacklustre Dublin Contemporary 2011, including James Coleman, Willie Doherty, Nevan Lahart, Liam O'Callaghan and Eamon O'Kane.

October brought several excellent shows, including Diana Copperwhite's An Island from the Day Beforeat Kevin Kavanagh, a museum-quality survey of Graham Gingles's sculptural boxes and paintings at the Fenderesky Gallery in Belfast, Anita Groener's Landat the Rubicon and Makiko Nakamura's Passage, meditative, incrementally built, grid-based paintings at the Taylor Gallery.

The close of the year brought further highlights. Galway's visual arts fest Tulca, curated by Megs Morley, was an ambitious international event put together with slender means and great flair. There were strong solo shows from Michael Cullen, with his Paintings from Sierras de las Nievesat the Taylor Gallery, Sabina Mac Mahon marvellous investigation of credulity, representation and belief at the Droichead Arts Centre, Longevityif not immortality, and Nick Miller's superb contribution to Apertures and Anxieties, a group show marking 300 years of Trinity's School of Medicine at the RHA Gallery in November.

Two arts publications stand out. Creative Ireland: Contemporary Visual Art in Ireland 200-2011, edited by Noel Kelly and Seán Kissane (Visual Artists Ireland €25), a lively anthology highlighting 100 key artists of the decade, and Donald Teskey's beautiful, limited edition A Connemara Folio(Occasional Press/Ballynahinch Castle €180 hardback, €45 paperback).

Incidentally, the hardy periodical The Irish Arts Review(annual four-issue subscription €40) now comes with useful access to its extensive online archive.

The great French 18th century philosopher, editor and writer Denis Diderot invented art criticism, but let's not hold that against him. As Philipp Blom recounts in his fascinating book Wicked Company: Freethinkers and Friendship in Pre-Revolutionary Paris(Weidenfield Nicholson, £25) he was also at the core of a group of Enlightenment thinkers whose bold radicalism has been largely eclipsed by various vested interests and prevailing, orthodox accounts of the era.

Biggest surprise was Christian Marclay's The Clock,a 24-hour film that won the main award at the Venice Biennale and wows audiences everywhere it screens. It more than lives up to the word-of-mouth. Let's hope the Irish audience gets the chance to see it. Also, Japanese artist Leiko Ikemura's stunning survey show at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. She lives in Europe and her work is remarkably in tune with aspects of the Irish sensibility.