IONTAS, of course, originates in Sligo Art Gallery (in every sense), but its present run at the RHA Gallagher Gallery will facilitate Dubliners and many besides.
The selectors this year have been Robbie McDonald and Andrea Schlieker, who appear to have done a good, tight job. There is one considerable imbalance, however the sculpture section is so small and thin that on this occasion it might have been wiser to dispense with it altogether.
The painting winner was Sinead Aldridge sculpture, Katharine West print, Margo McNulty drawing, Kieran Carey. Beatrice O'Connell won the Best Student Award and Maureen O'Connor the Adjudicators' Award. Personally, I would have chosen John Shinnors in the first category his Black Ship, The Estuary is a powerful, condensed picture. But then who ever agrees about art prizes?
Gary Brady's three oils are also individual and strong, though Sinead Aldridge is undoubtedly an interesting artist in her own right. I liked the strong drawing and quasichiaroscuro of Marie Caulfield (faintly reminiscent of Patrick Graham), Jill Dennis's three eloquent sea studies, the small landscape by Maurice Desmond, individual works by Clifford Collie, John Boyd, Katie Holten, Marie Josephe Lahaye, Mary Rose Binchy, John Conway, Mirja Tuomi, and the two vigorous landscape pieces by S. Kennedy Norris. Christina Poole's triptych is also eye catching and Samuel Walsh always shows a painterly, slightly bleak sense of style.
In the rather sparse drawing section, Bernadette Kiely's gutsy Sea Drawing stands out I was also impressed by the pastels of Elaine Thompson. Margo McNulty's witty, concise entries made her prize in the print section well deserved, and others who caught the eye were Anne M. Anderson and Mary Fitzpatrick.
The sculpture, alas, is dismally thin, as already mentioned. In other sections, the level is good this year, and the exhibition fills out the ground floor of the RHA Gallagher Gallery very neatly, in spite of the pre ordained small format of the works on view.