The artist formerly known as 'minister'

A Castlebar exhibition of paintings attracted a lot of attention this week - almost as much as the painter attracted at the Mahon tribunal

MARIE FARRELL is philosophical. The director of the Linenhall Arts Centre in Mayo's Castlebar knows how difficult it can be at times to generate interest in the work of emerging artists.

Then along comes a one-week show by a well-known public figure, and scores of visitors are crossing the threshold. "As I'm talking to you, there's about 40 people in the gallery now," she says.

She estimates that total attendance will have run close to 1,000 by the time the 30 paintings were taken down last night.

Had the artist decided to sell any of the pieces from his Lifescapes exhibition, there would have been a continuous line of red stickers on the title cards. But former EU commissioner Pádraig Flynn wasn't for turning; even as late as the opening night, on April 4th, when the person he had booked to open the show - his daughter, Beverley - had her own reason to celebrate.

It appears to have been "pure coincidence" that Beverley Flynn's re-admission to the Fianna Fáil family was confirmed the night before. She had anticipated that such a move would have been made by the outgoing Taoiseach Bertie Ahern before Easter, her supporters explained. As for her father's exhibition, the date for this had been set since last autumn.

Marie Farrell points out that the booking adhered to the rigorous procedures applied to all such exhibitions at the Linenhall. Farrell agrees that Beverley Flynn's Fianna Fáil return, and the appearance of her father at the Mahon tribunal during the week, would have generated much publicity.

"Ironically, we hadn't actually done any [ publicity], apart from including a note about the show in our published programme for April," says Farrell.

The 30 pieces are but a fraction of a much larger body of work, according to the artist, who was as apprehensive as any debutante at the opening function. He recalled how he started drawing seriously at the age of 12, and owed much to the late Cork artist Frank Hourigan.

A sculptor and painter, Hourigan exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy on five occasions between 1937 and 1946, and two of his works are part of the Crawford Gallery's permanent collection.

"He moved to Mayo about 1947, and my mother sent me to him for lessons," Flynn explained. A self-portrait in pencil, dated 1955, is one of a number of drawings that he completed under Hourigan's direction. It was an image of a "young, innocent, good-looking fellow", in the words of his daughter; and uncannily like Pádraig Pearse, according to one wit at the opening night.

Pádraig Flynn ceased painting when he got married, but after his retirement from political life, his wife, Dorothy, purchased a token for lessons with Swinford artist Pat Goff. His recent work is mainly landscapes and floral scenes.

The exhibition dates over six decades, starting with his early pencil drawings and moving on to familiar images of Mayo, in both oil and acrylic.

Several Mayo-based artists contacted by this newspaper were reluctant to comment publicly, but one artist who did visit the Linenhall said the work was of an "unexpected standard", given the fact that Flynn's energies would have been "directed elsewhere" during his controversial political career.

Among the work arousing most interest was an image of Croagh Patrick, entitled The Holy Mountain, which he painted for his wife, an oil entitled Garnish Dahlia, and Last Haystacks, also an oil, which, Flynn explained, captured a vanishing image due to changing agricultural practices.

At the launch night, Beverley Flynn said that her father was "always outgoing and gregarious" and had a "solitary silent side".

And, even when he had put down his brushes early on, he retained his artistic flair. "Didn't he wear a white suit up to Leinster House when first returned to the Dáil in 1977?" she said.

Flynn himself was amused to watch fellow Fianna Fáil party members over in one corner debating a particular piece of work. "It's a party meeting," he said. "They are looking at cats, but they know they may be Cabinet ministers and they are wondering who they really are," he whispered.

Would he divulge? "No, go on," he roared, and he was halfway across the room, hand outstretched again.