Summer art trails: 13 exhibitions to see on your holidays

Leinster

Paul McKinley: Pomegranate

Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin

This new body of work by the Dublin artist, which runs until July 15th, deals with the sobering consequences of the Afghan conflicts. Images include “a vertiginous, tortuous and mountainous steel bridge, symbolising the complex relationship between Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, and a ruined swimming pool near Kabul”.

John O’Reilly: Dublin Port 2021-2023

Axis Centre, Ballymun

This initiative by the former graffiti artist runs until July 6th between Dublin Port and the arts centre. It depicts the port as a backstage of daily life against the backdrop of its surviving 19th-century structures, by former graffiti artist John O’Reilly.

New Acquisitions

Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin

This exhibition ends July 9th. It has come about through donations, bequests and purchases and is a selection of work acquired by the gallery over the past decade, including artists such as Hannah Levy and Mairéad O’hEocha.

Els Dietvorst: Adrift

Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Co Louth

This exhibition by the Belgian visual artist is now open until August 19th. It is a collaboration between Wexford Arts Centre, West Cork Arts Centre, Wexford County Council and Highlanes. Dietvorst has been the recipient of prizes including the Evens Art Prize in 2017 and the Belgian Art Prize in 2021. The show will travel to Cork and Wexford in 2024.

Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Co Meath

A dynamic group exhibition showcasing four young artists – Marie Farrington, Sibyl Montague, Laura Ní Fhlaibhín and Liliane Puthod – showcasing predominantly new sculptural works. Harvest Gold is a new exhibition in the cafe at the centre, with a solo show by Hazel O’Sullivan.

Munster

Members and Friends Exhibition: Uillinn

West Cork Arts Centre, Skibbereen, Co Cork

This exhibition, now in its 35th year, runs until July 20th and showcases artists from across west Cork at all stages of their career. Works include paintings, sculpture, photography, print and mixed media by Deirdre Anderson, Johanna Ashby, Karen McSweeney and Sarah Ruttle.

Rita Duffy: Persistent Illusion

Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

In her first solo exhibition at Crawford, Duffy presents a trilogy of new large-scale works addressing themes of political chaos and planetary crisis. It follows on from her The Emperor has No Clothes in 2020, which was acquired by the gallery for the National Collection. Duffy, a member of Aosdána, was artist in residence at Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Institute and is “one of the major contemporary artists to emerge from Northern Ireland”, according to the gallery. The triptych show runs until October 8th.

f. Project: Of Light

Chapel Hill School of Art, Macroom, Co Cork

The f. Project, now in its third year, is a group of artists whose work include analogue photography, both traditional and experimental. The show emphasises the various ways that photographers work with light and how it can convey emotions while giving viewers the opportunity to question their perception of light and its role in everyday life. The project runs until July 23rd.

Connacht

Summer Show

The Kenny Gallery, Galway

The Summer Show exhibition runs until July 11th, showcases works from a range of artists including Lola Donoghue, Shane Berkery, John Morris, Mario Sughi and George Callaghan, along with artists from Italy, Germany, Japan and the United States, to include paintings, sculpture and graphics.

Cairde Sligo Arts Festival

Sligo

The festival takes place July 1st-9th and brings an eclectic mix of local, national and international acts with a line-up of music, theatre, visual and street art, in “a unique coming together of artists and audiences celebrating imagination and shared experience”. In its third Visual Art Trail, the town becomes a gallery, with five contemporary artists, including Shane Finan, Paul Hallahan and Karen Browett, showcasing their works. The trail itself runs until July 29th.

Hughie O’Donoghue: Erris Retrospect

Áras Inis Gluaire, Belmullet, Co Mayo

Lighthouse by Hughie O'Donoghue, part of his Erris Retrospect

With three works so large the doors of the gallery had to be removed for access, this new retrospective by Hughie O’Donoghue features works that were inspired by the landscape around the Erris Peninsula in north Mayo, where the artist’s mother is from. Most of the works have never been shown in Ireland before, and some new paintings will be on exhibition for the first time. The show, running until August 25th, comes after O’Donoghue’s Original Sins exhibition at the National Gallery marking the Decade of Centenaries, which ended in May.

Ulster

Stephen Dunne: A Paradise of Paradox and Pardon

Townhall Gallery, Cavan

This show runs until July 22nd and comprises painting, drawing and moving images.

Sam’s Eden

Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry

This exhibition runs until September, investigating responses to the queer body in physical and virtual realms by artists Yarli Allison, Suds McKenna and Michaela Razafima Nash.