The art crowd was out in force on Wednesday night when Janet Mullarney's exhibition, The Perfect Family, opened in the Hugh Lane Gallery. Mullarney herself spends her time between Italy and Ireland, and many of her friends flew in from Italy for the event. Later in the evening, she was also seen in deep conversation with Bruce Swanzy, cultural attache of the Mexican embassy, about a possible trip to Mexico in the future. Another semi-Italian resident, artist John Keating, was chatting with the exhibition curator, Christina Kennedy, who opened an exhibition of his work in his hometown, Clonmel, the following night. Keating also has a major show in Turin next February. Two artists who will be having their own openings at the gallery next year were Vivienne Roche, whose Tidal Erotics show will be a collaboration with composer John BO]Buckley, and Alice Maher who is preparing an exhibition in response to the gallery's own collection of works on paper. Other guests included artist Abigail O'Brien, who had just returned from a successful show with one of Dusseldorf's leading galleries, the Gallerie Bugdahn; artist Guggi and his wife, Sybille Ungers, gilder Carol Booth, who came to the exhibition straight from filming in her studio in Sheriff Street for a new RTE antiques programme, and Lady Lavery biographer Sinead McCoole and her two-month-old baby, Eve.
On Thursday evening the gallery was thrown open again when the Irish section of the International Association of Art Critics gathered to honour two prominent members of the art world. Dr James White, the former director of the National Gallery, and art critic Brian Fallon were both awarded honorary life presidency of the section in recognition of their life-long commitment to art. The company included Dorothy Walker, president of the association; author Hilary Pyle; gallery owner Gerald Davis, and artists Jacqui Stanley and Campbell Bruce.