Cross Gallery, 59 Francis St, Dublin Until Jul 4 01-4738978

At the Ashford Gallery for the past number of years, Mark St John Ellis played a vital role in the Irish art scene, providing a large number of artists with an exhibitions platform early in their careers. That all important intermediate stage, between studies, perhaps, and involvement with a mainstream commercial gallery, had been largely neglected. St John Ellis not only managed to do it but brought real flair to the task.

Although he was not exclusively guided by it in his choice of artists, he also has a particular aesthetic of his own, tending towards the gothic, and it is to the fore in his latest venture, Angels of Perversity, which he has curated at the Cross Gallery. The drawings by the three participating artists have in common “a confusion of reality with the dream with a sexual atmosphere, a modern gothic”.

The show also marks the inauguration of the Cross’s new basement space, nag, which St John Ellis will programme. To begin with, he’s showing small to medium-sized paintings by some 16 artists, including Ann Quinn, Claire Carpenter, Simon English and Claire Kerr, at very reasonable prices. Worth checking out.

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