The White Pube Particular Books, 2024, 320 pp. Poor Artists by The White Pube, the collaborative identity of Zarina Muhammad and Gabrielle de la Puente, is a compelling object. Its flamingo pink cover is a flamboyant addition to my bookcase. The London and Liverpool-based critics have been writing bombastic online criticism, filled with emojis, abbreviations, and feelings, since 2015 and graciously, this content has largely been free for readers to consume ..read more

Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts 31 January – 20 April 2025 Curated by RHA Director, Patrick T. Murphy, ‘BogSkin’ is a major group exhibition which spans 50 years of artistic engagement with the Irish boglands. The work of 20 artists is presented, with their collective output evincing both changing attitudes and lasting affinities. The bog variously represents the romantic, the unknown, and the poetic, just as much as it speaks to climate change and ecological disaster.  ..read more

LISA FINGLETON REFLECTS ON A MONTH-LONG RESIDENCY AT NAVDANYA BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION FARM IN NORTHERN INDIA. “We are all connected through food. We are all connected through soil. We are all connected through life. And those are the interconnections that we have to build consciously now.”1   For over 20 years, much of my life and art practice have been focused on food systems, and the increasingly radical acts of growing and eating local and organic food ..read more

Solomon Fine Art  6 February – 1 March 2025 A striking quality of the landscapes featured in ‘The Old Grieving Fields’, apart from the Sligo-based artist’s clear aptitude for drawing, is the role played by many of their supports. Standing in front of an artwork, it is common to absorb content without conscious regard for the material upon which it has been created. But, here, the supports invite greater attention ..read more

CLARE LYMER OUTLINES NIVAL’S RECENT ACQUISITION OF THE BELFAST INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF PERFORMANCE ART ARCHIVE. In a significant move for the preservation of Northern Ireland’s performance art history, the National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL) has secured the archive of the Belfast International Festival of Performance Art (BIFPA). This acquisition safeguards invaluable insights into the country’s performance art heritage, offering future generations of artists, researchers, and the general public unprecedented access to a wealth of material documenting over a decade of boundary-pushin ..read more

THOMAS POOL INTERVIEWS CHAIRPERSON MARY LOU O’KENNEDY ABOUT THE ROS TAPESTRY – A MONUMENTAL PROJECT 27 YEARS IN THE MAKING CHRONICLING THE MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF NEW ROSS AND THE SOUTHEAST OF IRELAND. Thomas Pool: What can you tell us about your background? What drew you to the Ros Tapestry project? Mary Lou O’Kennedy: I’m a resident of New Ross, County Wexford, where the tapestries originated. I have a personal background in community development work, and in my career, previously, I would have worked professionally in the area of community development and local development ..read more

THOMAS POOL INTERVIEWS STITCHER SUSAN SYNNOTT ABOUT THE ROS TAPESTRY – A MONUMENTAL PROJECT 27 YEARS IN THE MAKING CHRONICLING THE MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF NEW ROSS AND THE SOUTHEAST OF IRELAND. Thomas Pool: What can you tell us about your background? What drew you to the Ros Tapestry project? Susan Synnott: I have been interested in arts and crafts since my schooldays. I have been costume co-ordinator with New Ross Musical Society for about 20 years ..read more

THOMAS POOL INTERVIEWS STITCHER ROSA RONAN ABOUT THE ROS TAPESTRY – A MONUMENTAL PROJECT 27 YEARS IN THE MAKING CHRONICLING THE MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF NEW ROSS AND THE SOUTHEAST OF IRELAND. Thomas Pool: What can you tell us about your background? What drew you to the Ros Tapestry project? Rosa Ronan: I’m from New Ross, my family has been here for nine generations. I went to school in Holy Faith Convent, then after that I trained in hotel management for two years ..read more

BRIAN CURTIN DISCUSSES HIS ROLE AS ONE OF THE CURATORS OF THE BANGKOK ART BIENNALE 2024 WHICH INCLUDES THE WORK OF FOUR IRISH ARTISTS. The fourth Bangkok Art Biennale (BAB) opened to the public on 24 October 2024 amidst a glitzy week of events, launches, and after-parties. It will run for nearly four months, closing on 25 February. This edition of BAB presents over 70 artists from around the world and is staged across 11 venues ..read more

Material Laboratories: Metal Fest  National Sculpture Factory  5 October 2024 The night of Psyche II, James L. Hayes’s collaborative performance, was one of the wettest nights of the year. Despite the orange weather warning for rain, the event – which centred on an outdoor live iron casting in the yard of the National Sculpture Factory – proceeded. The result was an epic battle with the elements: a battle to get the huge iron furnace up to a temperature of 1500 degrees in driving rain; a battle to keep the moulds for the pour sufficiently hot; and a battle to prevent the molten iron ..read more