Kevin Kavanagh, Chancery Lane, Dublin Tues-Fri 10.30am-5.30pm, Sat 11am-5pm Until May 26 kevinkavanaghgallery.ie

Mick O’Dea delved into a dark phase of Irish history with his 2010 exhibition Black Tan, bringing the era to life in paintings made with all his trademark spontaneity and vitality. The immediacy of revivified images from the distant past struck a chord, and the show was a runaway success.

O’Dea’s starting point was a childhood memory of playing toy soldiers in the family bar in Ennis, Co Clare, with customers who were veterans of both the British army and the old IRA.

In his new body of work he returns to the rich historical terrain of the War of Independence.

As Professor Kevin Whelan notes in an accompanying text: “O’Dea brings back to vivid life the figures of this period in all their flawed and slightly sinister humanity. (He) forces the observer to engage with them not as abstract and remote figures, but as real people in a real time and place.”

Can't see that? Catch this:

IS(not) Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Co Cork Until May 27