Two artists were paired for the first time for an exhibition that opened in the Rubicon Gallery, Dublin this week.
Guests at the opening of On Waves and Water enjoyed seeing the complementary parallels between work by photographer Amelia Stein and Cork-based sculptor Vivienne Roche.
"Tá sé go hiontach," said Colm Ó Briain, director of the National College of Art and Design. "Is iontach an saothair a fheiceáil le chéile. Tá sé do-chreidte."
Prof Ciaran Benson, of UCD's psychology department, was equally enthusiastic. "Amelia is very strong on texture . . . while Vivienne is extremely closely observed; it looks abstract, but in fact it's very true to the look of the beach which she works from in Garretstown in west Cork," he said.
Roche said her work is "images of the beach; it's in the detail of sand or wave patterns", while Stein explained that hers involved looking at "the way the water runs off a beach in Connemara".
The work of the two artists shared "a dendritic or branching quality" as well as a monochromatic quality, said Paul O'Reilly, one of the administrators with the Limerick-based annual Exhibition of Visual + Art (EV+A). "It works very well," he said.
Friends who packed the gallery included Roche's daughter, Gina Hanrahan; Stein's uncle and aunt, Jacqueline and Willie Stein; Fergus Martin, whose collaboration with fellow artist Anthony Hobbs has just closed at the Green on Red Gallery; Prof Ivana Bacik, of TCD; artist Bernadette Kiely; barrister Bill Shipsey, who is chairman of the Art for Amnesty committee; actor Olwen Fouéré; writer John Banville; Project's Willie White and his wife, Gilly Clarke; architect Ger Carty; art critic Kate Robinson and violinist Fionnuala Hunt with her husband, wine writer Raymond Blake.
On Waves and Water runs at the Rubicon Gallery, 10 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, until Saturday, December 20th