DOROTHY CROSS is an artist whose work tends to be seen abroad more than in her native Ireland and this exhibition is a welcome opportunity to view some of the fruits of the past 10 years of her artistic activity.
While earlier works tend to address distinct themes, later pieces are less didactic and more open to conjecture and interpretation. There is a certain playfulness and punning in many of the works. A case in point is Shark Lady in a Balldress (1988), the upper half an overtly female shark grafted incongruously on to a taffeta ballgown to create man eater in all senses.
Much of the artist's work addresses sexual issues; as in the visually ambiguous and voyeuristic Screen: Ladies Changing Room (1991), where hard hats double as breasts, and the uncomfortable but fascinating Lover Rattlesnakes (1995), where cold blood and entwined passion make unusual bed fellows. Contrastingly, an untitled work from 1995 comprises two superimposed xrays, a skull into which is set a curled up skeletal outline of a foetus. Poignant and eloquent, it not only depicts the birth of an idea (literally a conception), but also acknowledges the mortality inherent in us all.
While both provocative and sometimes uncomfortable, the wit suffused in the work creates a sense of accessibility. Cross subverts convention rather than railing against it, and her powerful imagery continues to work in the mind long after viewing.
