The In-Between: Dorothy Cross: View, and other Exhibits

I was very lucky to go to Dublin for the day with a friend to see the exhibition View by Dorothy Cross at the Kerlin Gallery, it was well worth the visit, extremely inspiring. The work is different than what she is normally known for, She linked humans, nature and the universe all in one room. The influence of the early Surrealists was very strong with her use of the object and assemblage. You could see definite connections especially with her photographs of school rooms and cathedrals, and her sculpture Distil which was distinctively phallic. It left you wanting to know more, Cross definitely leaves the door open to interpretation and never gives anything away. Her photos were interesting, not so much the images but the quality. They were quit large but the quality was clearly poor. It seemed as if she took the photos with an everyday digital camera, the images seemed as if they were taken on impulse to capture a moment in time. I think the quality of them is what attracted me the most to them,. In college there was this fear of a low quality image, that if it wasn't pristine it wasn't good enough, which was hard for me as my photos were anything but perfect. It just shows that it is about the image in the end, the thought, thats whats important. It doesn't have to be pristine to be in a gallery, you do not have to own the most expensive DSLR, or know the photo taking manual back to front to produce an image that speaks to the viewer. A photo is just a memory, and memories aren't always clear.
Just seeing this really helped me a lot. I feel a lot more comfortable about using a found object and I can't wait to start making more work now!

We also went to see Dukka at the Douglas Hyde gallery. It was very conceptual, really not my cup of tea. It was one of those exhibits were the background behind it was more interesting than the work. The only piece I really liked was by the artist Fergus Feehily, floral wallpaper in a crude pink frame.

Maria Simmonds had a retrospective at the RHA, we didn't have a lot of time to spend there but it is worth a look. her use of materials was very interesting and I loved how minimalist her work is.

The last stop was IMMA, the exhibits there were disappointing, including the permanent collection. The exhibit we went to see there Second Sight, The David Kronn Photography Collection was wonderful. A wide variety of work by photographers from around the world. I was lucky enough to see iconic photos of Frida Kahlo and Louise Bourgeois that I have loved for years and learned about some new photographers which was very beneficial.

Below are some photos from the Dorothy Cross exhibit, I couldn't take photos of the other exhibits. Of course the photos are nothing compared to seeing the work in person.

An early morning start.

Doorway, 2014 (and detail)

Wooden door and tree fungi

Telescope, 2014 (and detail of skull)

Human skull, white gold leaf, meteorite, marble, pitch pine, telescope.

Installation View

Scales, 2014 (and detail of skull cap and hanger)

Human Skull, yellow gold leaf, coat hanger, steel hanger, meteorites.

Lightening, 2014

Sandstone column, cast sterling silver, Fulgurite

(in case you don't know Fulgurites are (from the Latin bulgur, meaning "thunderbolt") are a variety of the mineraloid lechatelierite. They are natural hollow glass tubes often formed during lightning strikes, in quartzes sand, silica, or soil.)

Distil, 2014

Barrister's wig, marble, glass, leather, mahogany

Buoy, 2014

Blue shark skin, white gold leaf, antique easel, italian alabaster

(one of out favourite pieces in the exhibit, the texture and detail of the shark skin was amazing)

Finger crab, 2011

Solid cast sterling silver

These little guys often pop up in her work, you can tell how small it is by the size of the finger he has instead of a claw. Its was so cute because of how the floor at the gallery is it looks as if it wet itself! You just wanted to pick it up, such a sad looking thing!

This piece was displayed with a set of photos in the office which was an awkward lace to put work as you were trying to look at the work while people were working. Unfortunately it is not on the list of works but by looking at it you can see that they are different fingers cast in Sterling silver. I believe they are in a cigar box.

"Kerlin Gallery is pleased to announce View, an exhibition of new work by Dorothy Cross.

View will include a series of new sculptures and photographs. The works are exemplary of the artist’s complex exploration of the connection between humans and the natural world, playing with material, relationship and time. The exhibition captures the artist’s ongoing compulsion to agitate possibilities for new perspectives and points of view.

Working with the flood of natural light from a normally hidden window in the west wall of the Kerlin Gallery space, a line of sculptures will run the length of the gallery. Photographs that refer to the exquisite views of the landscape of her surroundings in Connemara hang with more desolate images of past phases of life. Within the spine of sculptures, Cross continues her enigmatic approach to materiality, re-appropriating objects such as a barrister’s wig, a telescope and a shark-skin. One work is comprised of the right and left lobes of a human skull, each gilded within and each containing a handful of meteorites, shooting-stars once having burned and now no longer illuminated. The lobes balance perilously from the ends of a pale blue coat hanger. This play between the terrestrial and the celestial reoccurs throughout the exhibition. In each work, processes of alchemy and piquant manipulation transform spaces between the cerebral, the sensual, and the functional." -Kerlin Gallery, Press Release

At the end of the week I went to see the exhibit …..The Day Came Fat…..,works by the Crawford art and process MA students. It was grand, there were two pieces there I liked; there was a mix of sculpture, video and drawing
I went down to see it as I am exploring my Master options, but I don't think it needs its own post.