Photissima Venice

Roseanne Lynch 

at Photissima Venice 

in  collaboration  with Amy-d, Milan 

May 30 - June 2 2013

Untitled [chh] © Roseanne Lynch

nag

basement

59 Francis Street

Dublin 8, Ireland

www.nagallery.ie

Upcoming Exhibitions

I am really happy to announce that my six images that are the body of work Place will be part of the PhotoIreland Festival’s 2013 main exhibition New Irish Works this July. Later, in November of this year, PhotoIreland will be traveling to Paris & taking a stand at Paris Photo. New Irish Works, a book on contemporary Irish photography, will accompany the PhotoIreland Festival containing the work of the artists in the main exhibition. 

A Fund:It campaign has been launched to help produce a free catalogue for the festival. There are lots of rewards for helping to support the campaign, including copies of the book I mentioned above. All the information can be found here, on the Fund:It page.

This year for the first time the PhotoIreland Festival has expanded to Cork & Limerick, as well as Dublin. I will  be showing as part of the Limerick show at Ormston House. 

 Untitled [chh] © Roseanne Lynch 2013

Untitled [eln] © Roseanne Lynch 2013

nag Launch Exhibition

There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time.

There is always something to see something to hear.

In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot.

- John Cage

Image courtesy of nag

In among all the busyness of November there was another exhibition that I was a part of. It was the launch of nag, new art gallery in Dublin. I am delighted to be one of the artists represented by Mark St. John Ellis as part of this new venture. nag was previously a project space supporting emerging artists but has now been relaunched as a commercial gallery. The gallery and website were launched on the 8th November at the opening of an exhibition of the work of the represented artists. Also represented are Brian Fay, Elijah's Mantle, Eoin O'Connor, Kieran Moore, Kohei Nakata, Margaret O'Brien, Pertiwi and Tom O' Dea.

"nag represented artists tend to have a commonality in process, an obsession for detail, refined execution and finish. Whilst the artists are conceptually driven, the conventional object, in the form of drawing, painting and sculpture is valued and accessible to collector and curator."

For the exhibition my work is presented as an object. There are 2 minimalist black boxes, Document and Place, which open to reveal a collection of limited edition photographs. You can see them on the  pedestals in the installation photos below.

All images courtesy of nag, new art gallery

The exhibition continues to 22nd December 2012 at nag, new art gallery, Basement, 59 Francis St, Dublin 8.

Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not)

Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) at the Wandesford Quay Gallery

The curators of this exhibition, Tom Dalton and David Upton, began the process of curation by visiting the artist studios, and asking to see work, including work that may be something new or unresolved. Having looked at the work they devised the theme and selected the artists and work.

My two photographs shown are from a series I made in Paris last year while staying at The Centre Cultural Irlandais, as part of my Alliance Photography Laureate award. Armed with my twin lens reflex I approached the Physics dept. at the University of Paris and asked if I could photograph their old instruments of measurement. I was interested in them as objects whose function is described in their form. They could well still perform their function, but they are not needed to.

I was also interested in the beauty of the objects, brass and wood and made by hand. I photographed them outside the men’s toilets where I liked the light and their beauty against the irreverent old tiles.

In Paris I used an old film camera, whose function is described it its form, to make these photos. It too has been superseded by more modern cameras, but these newer models can not reproduce the particular qualities of this old camera & the photographs it produces.

Instruments of Measurement and Conduction, University of Paris N8 and N18, 
12"x12" unmounted fiber based silver gelatin hand prints © Roseanne Lynch, 2012

 Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not) is a Backwater Artist Group Exhibition. It continues to run from 16^th Nov – 1^st December 2012 at the Wandesford Quay Gallery, Cork.

Noli Me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere meaning 'Touch Me Not' is an exhibition featuring the work of 14 artists from the Backwater Artists Group, including some of my own work, and is curated by Tom Dalton and David Upton.

Noli me tangere, when viewed through the lens of these artworks, creates an in-between state, bordering the surreal, conjuring associations of the supernatural and the otherworldly. This statement can simply be interpreted as a physical distance between viewer and subject while some works suggest a conceptual intangibility, where the viewer is faced with an ambiguity of intention. In positioning the work as either the threat or the threatened, an element of danger and vulnerability comes into play.

You can read more on the Wandesford Quay Gallery website. You are all very welcome to the opening reception on November 16th at 6pm. The exhibition will run Monday to Staurday from 10am- 6pm until the 1st December at the Wandesford Quay Gallery, Cork.

Hidden Meanings

Untitled [som], 2011 © Roseanne Lynch

Three pieces from my Place series of work have travelled halfway across the world to China as part of the exhibition 'Hidden Meanings' at the Yan Chao Collection Gallery in Beijing, curated by Fion Gunn in association with You Yanzi. 'Hidden Meanings' is one exhibition in a series of visual art events celebrating Ireland's presence in China called Irish Wave 2012.

'Hidden Meanings' looks at landscape in the context of culture and memory. ‘Landscape art’ has come to mean many things. In the past it was a term used to describe art that recorded and interpreted the natural environment; indeed long before the passion for landscape art was discovered in Europe it had an ancient and illustrious history amongst the literati in China.

In the global 21st century landscape itself means many things and to increasing numbers of the world’s inhabitants. It means the environment of cities, the backdrop of industry and the internalised map of a world which we carry inside our heads. Our personal landscape is often the map of underground trains, the route of our buses, the view from a car and the passageways of apartment blocks. The artists in this exhibition explore their own environments and investigate their significance on a personal and a social level.

Location of Yan Chao Gallery, Beijing

'Hidden Meanings' is open 4-6pm from today, March 9th at the Yan Chao Collection Gallery, Guomao, Beijing, China.

Recent Exhibitions

The last few weeks have been busy since my return from Paris. My work is currently show ing in two exhibitions and another on has just finished up. Here are a few photos of the work in place.

First a snapshot of Untitled [chh1] hanging in the Elysian in the exhibition Art Work Embassy as part of Art Trail Cork 2011. The photograph to the left is by Pádraig Spillane. All the my photographs in these exhibitions were printed by Tony at RightBrain. Art Trail and the Art Work Embassy exhibition continues until Sunday 4th December, so if you're around Cork this weekend you should pop in to see it.

Untitled [chh1] in Art Work Embassy at The Elysian, Cork

If you're in Dublin this weekend there's an exhibition for you to visit too. The Rua Red Winter Show continues until the 10th December. I wasn't able to make the opening as I was still in Paris so I'd like to thank Miriam O'Connor who was also part of the exhibition for taking these photos for me.

Rua Red Winter Show 2011 (© Miriam O'Connor)

Untitled [uu1] at the Rua Red Winter Show 2011 (© Miriam O'Connor)

And finally a photo from Place Space an exhibition of the Backwater Artists Group in the Wandesford Quay Art Gallery that finished up last weekend. The piece on the wall to the left is by Frank McGrath.

Untitled [uu1] in Place Space at the Wandesford Quay Art Gallery

Cork Art Trail

Art Trail Programme

So I'm back from Paris and I'm straight back into it here in Cork. Tonight Cork Art Trail opens in the ground floor of the Elysian (Eglinton St.) from 6 - 9pm. Art Trail is an annual contemporary Arts Festival in Cork City and this years theme is "National Interest". Cork, One of the major highlights & hub of the festival is Art Work Embassy, a large scale exhibition in the Elysian which brings together artists & artwork from lots of different arts groups, organisations & collectives in Cork. I have a new piece in the show as part of the Backwater Artists Group which I am looking forward to seeing hung.

Untitled [chh1] by Roseanne Lynch being printed at RightBrain (Photo by Tony O'Brien)

Please see the Art Trail Programme (above) for further details and information on the many events and exhibitions running throughout the festival

Art Trail runs from Friday 18th November to Sunday 4th December. Art Work Embassy runs from Saturday 19th November to Sunday 4th December from 12pm - 6pm daily in the ground floor of the Elysian, Eglinton St., Cork.

Rua Red Winter Open 2011

Rua Red Winter Show 2011 (Photo by Rua Red)

As I spend my last few days in Paris the exhibitions continue back in Ireland. Today is the first day of the Rua Red Winter Open which is showing another one of my photos. The exhibition features a cross section of emerging and established artists and craft makers presenting painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, installation, jewelry & mixed media. All works for exhibition were selected by a curatorial panel including Ann Mulrooney, Curator of the National Craft Gallery and Hillary Murray, Curator of Collections at the Irish Museum if Modern Art.

There will be Art Trolley Sessions running throughout the exhibition on the 12th, 19th & 26th of November and on the 3rd & 10th December. The Art Trolley Sessions are suitable for children aged 3 - 8 accompanied by an adult and are extremely popular so they need to be booked in advance. For more information please see the Rua Red website.

Stack 14 by John Ryan - Rua Red Winter Open 2011

Structure Brooch by Rachel Swan - Rua Red Winter Show Dublin 2011

Rua Red Winter Open 2011 is on at the Rua Red South Dublin Art Centre from 12th November to the 10th of December 2011 from 10am - 6pm Tuesday to Saturday.

Place Space is a selected exhibition of work by 17 artists from the Backwater Artists Group. It opens tonight (Wed 9th) at 7pm at the Wandesford Quay Art Gallery. One of my pieces is in the exhibition although unfortunately I can't make the opening as I'm still in Paris. The exhibition was curated by Julia Jansen and Tony O'Connor.

The exhibition is part of a larger open studio event called Open 2011 from 16th -23rd November. The studios will be open to the public Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th beginning with tea & cakes at noon on Saturday and artists talks through out the day. Guided group tours will also be available during the week but need to be booked in advance. Click here to download the Open 2011 brochure for more information.

Place Space runs from 9th -26th of November 2011 at Wandesford Quay Art Gallery, Cork.

Reflecting on the Guesthouse Residency

Installation at The Guesthouse
Photographed by Tony Compagno

The residency at The Guesthouse was a valuable opportunity to read and to play with another way of expressing my considerations rather than through a photographic print. Through reflective practice and dialogue I spent the time considering the art piece as the event, rather than as a documentation of the event. This is the installation that you see in the photos and what I presented at the Sunday lunch.

Experiencing the Installation
Photographed by Tony Compagno

The final image of the poetry book was a first edition of Poems by Anthony Cronin from 1957 which I found in the Guesthouse. I was very taken by the poem 'For a Father' in which he talks about how mannerisms come through in later generations. To me that is also relevant to how one piece of work leads to another, which leads to another, and the thought or concept that appears in a later piece is recognisable in some early form in the work that goes before it.

First Edition of Poems by Anthony Cronin
Photographed by Tony Compagno

I was also joined on the Residency by Pádraig Spillane - curator, photographer, philosopher and Vadagam maker extraordinaire. I want to thank Stephen McGlynn and all at The Guesthouse for the opportunity to do this residency. I am also delighted to say that a photograph that I made in Belfast during the Belfast Photo Festival has been accepted into the Rua Red Winter Show which will run from the 12th of November to the 10th December 2011.

Describing Architecture

Photo by Alice Clancy

If you are in Dublin this weekend you can see one of my photographs in Describing Architecture at the Daylight Gallery, No. 4 Capel St., Dublin 1. The exhibition is run by the Architectural Association of Ireland and is on for this weekend only as part of Open House Dublin 2011. The exhibition runs from Friday 7th - Sunday 9th October from 12pm - 6pm.

Airports for Shadows & Flypaper for Squeaks

Untitled [cg1] by Roseanne Lynch

19"x 23" fiber based silver gelatin print, on diabond. 1/3

Airports for Shadows features work that inhabits spaces that have the capacity and authority to effectively silence their surroundings.

" ... Destiny, and even God Himself, have become famous above all because they answer us with silence. " *

Airports for Shadows is how John Cage described Robert Rauschenberg's White Paintings. The following year Cage responded in 1952 with the performance experience 4'33". If the White Paintings are airports for shadows then 4'33" is flypaper to coughs, the squeaks of chairs and the hum of outside traffic **, thus demonstrating that complete silence can only be digital.

Airports for Shadows seeks to demonstrate works in the gallery space that have the capacity to quieten, if not silence the surroundings of the viewing experience. The Mark Rothko room at the Tate Modern in London has this effect as does a Japanese Zen garden.

* extracts from ' Thoughts on Dolls ' by Rilke

** See Daniel Drews essay Next to Nothing in the book published 2004 on the occasion of the exhibition Singular Forms ( Sometimes Repeated ) Art from 1951 to the Present shown at the Guggenheim Museum, New York.


Airports for Shadows is curated by Mark St. John Ellis and features Felicity Clear, Susan Connolly, Roseanne Lynch, Tom O'Dea, Pertiwi, Karen Trusselle & Mary Ruth Walsh. The exhibition previews on Friday September 9th and continues until October 1st at Cross Gallery, 59 Francis Street, Dublin 8 in association with Dublin Contemporary 2011.

Airport for Shadows - Cross Gallery, Dublin

Airport for Shadows is a group show curated by Mark St. John Ellis at the Cross Gallery. It opens this Friday 9th September with a reception from 6-8pm. My photograph is a site specific piece made for this show & I'm looking forward to seeing it in the context of this exhibition. I want to thank Mark St.John Ellis for inviting me to be part of this show & for being so helpful during the making of the photograph. I hope that some of you will be able to join us for the opening on Friday or call in to the Cross Gallery during the duration of the show.

Airport for Shadows opens Friday 9th 6-8pm and runs from September 10th - October 1st at the Cross Gallery 59, Francis St., Dublin 8.

The Artist's Space Podcast

After I won the 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award, Ray Burke from 103.2 Dublin City FM interviewed me for his show called 'The Artist's Space'. I shared a bit about my motivations for entering the award, my process, what I'm currently working on and my plans for the Paris residency. The Podcast is now available to download at the Artist's Space Page or on iTunes, or you can listen to it below.




The 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award Exhibition continues in Alliance Francaise, Kildare St., Dublin until May 11th.

Press Coverage of the Alliance Francaise Photography Award

The Cork News April 8
(Click on the image to enlarge it)

There has been some press coverage of the Alliance Francaise Award. The Cork News printed a lovely little piece (above) last Friday 8th April. I was also interviewed by Ray Burke from 103.2 Dublin City FM for his programme called the Artist's Space which was broadcast last Thursday 7th April. If you missed it I'll be sharing the podcast with you when its available.

I also want to thank the PhotoIreland Festival, the Irish Art Blog, Cork Analogue Photographers and the Alliance Francaise Dublin blog for writing about my win, and the Visual Artists Ireland for printing it in their bulletin.

The Alliance Francaise Photography Award Exhibition continues in the Alliance Francaise gallery, 1 Kildare St., Dublin until the 11 May.

A Happy Reaction

(photo by Margaret Brown)

"The panel found the work of Roseanne Lynch to be visually intriguing, formally dynamic and beautifully constructed."

You can see the surprise and delight on my face at hearing my name announced as the 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award Laureate in the fabulous photo above. It was all a complete blur at the time so its nice to be able to look back at this photo and read what the jury said about my work.

An unexpected win - 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award

Last Thursday night I headed up to Dublin for the opening of the 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award Exhibition. It’s a funny thing, being up for an award, even though you are willing your name to be announced, it is quite shocking when you hear it. I was up there behind the microphone before I realized, caught my breath -eventually- and said my few words. It is completely thrilling. Any one of us four finalists were worthy of the prize, and congratulations to the other finalists, Joby Hickey, Doreen Kennedy & Jean Luc Morales.

Claire Bourgeois, Director of Alliance Francaise, announces the Award winner.

Initially a reason for applying was to have my work seen by the esteemed judges, and I was hoping to get to the final four to be part of the exhibition at Alliance Francaise but I had not seen past that to actually winning the award! I really just wanted to have my work seen, so this was a huge & wonderful surprise.

The prize is a 2 week residency in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris- flights and accommodation- a €600 grant courtesy of the Ireland Fund of France, a course in Alliance Francaise to brush up on my French before I go, and a one-to-one tutorial with Vermillion Design.

The residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris is a very valuable part of many Irish artists' resumes. Some of the people who have spent time there include; Anthony Haughey who was one of the judges and gave me advice on the night regarding the residency - Martin Healy who did his Masters at Crawford College of Art, as I did, and whose thesis I had studied in the library - and poets Paul Durcan and Michael Coady whose work I am very fond of.

I'm beside myself with excitement to have two weeks to immerse myself in my work. I have already been researching architectural spaces to visit and make images of, and curators to visit who might be interested in my work. I hope to be able to make my visit during Paris Photo, and partake in their portfolio reviews and shows.

My family were there to help me celebrate the award

I dedicate my win to Maureen Connolly from Belmullet, Co Mayo, our family friend and the mother of my brother’s wife Rita, who died last month. Maureen was someone who believed in finding out what you were put on the planet to do, and in finding happiness and fulfillment in what we do and how we live. We have had great conversations over the years, especially during my residency in North Mayo and while making the 'Continuum' body of work. She encouraged me hugely and would have been so happy that I won this award.

Winning this award has been a huge achievement for me but it also makes me realise that I am not an island. Getting to this stage with my work is the result of much support and help from so many people, so I sincerely thank everyone who has had any input in my receiving this award and everyone who shares in my excitement. A huge thank you to my family and friends for their support and encouragement. Thank you to Claire Bourgeois, Marine Laniray, Francoise Brung and the staff of Alliance Francaise in Dublin for organising this exhibition. Thank you to the judges for the kind words you said about my work. And thank you for the warm congratulations from colleagues and from those who have written so generously about the win.

The 1st Alliance Francaise Award Exhibition continues in Alliance Francaise, 1 Kildare St., Dublin until 11 May.

1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award

As soon as I arrived back from Holland I was on the road again, this time to Dublin where I was hanging my photos for the 1st Alliance Francaise Photography Award Exhibition. I am one of four finalists for the Award, along with Joby Hickey, Doreen Kennedy and Jean Luc-Morales. The exhibition takes place in Alliance Francaise on Kildare St. in Dublin from the 30 March to the 11 May. And you are very welcome to the opening at 6.30pm on Thursday the 31st March.