Artists have a close encounter with Kubrick

Stanly Kubrick on the set of 2001: A Space Odyssey

DONALD CLARKE

The continuing significance of Stanley Kubrick as an iconic image-maker will be reflected in an intriguing exhibition set to open in Dublin’s Light House Cinema next Thursday. John Maguire, film critic with the Sunday Business Post and Today FM, has gathered a selection of artists – some established, some upcoming tyros – and invited them to construct pieces inspired by Kubrick’s films.

“In the history of cinema, there have been very few individuals with Stanley Kubrick’s vision and nobody who could capture a moment with his sense of grace and wonder,” Maguire says. “From his first films, Kubrick showed a restless desire to innovate, to change perceptions, to show things in a new light. This is the function of the artist.”

The works include Francis Matthews’s spookily near- photorealistic evocation of an interior from The Shining , David Turpin’s playful take on Barry Lyndon , and Mark Wickham’s sketch of a key scene from Paths of Glory . Artwork for the exhibition poster, by Uruguayan illustrator Martin Ansin, is arranged across echoing spaces, which, with their well-lit ambience, suggest a world designed by Kubrick.

In a spirit of full disclosure, we should mention that the programme contains monographs by Paul Lynch of the Sunday Tribune and (hem, hem) Donald Clarke of The Irish Times. 

The exhibition, which is free, will run at the Light House until October 31st. www.lighthousecinema.ie