AMELIA STEIN

A decade of new acquisitions – many on display for the first time – in New Perspectives. The Gallery holds Ireland’s national collection of art, a collection that is constantly growing and evolving through the addition of new works. These acquisitions augment and enrich the collection for the nation.

New Perspectives includes newly acquired Irish art, Western art, portraiture, works on paper, and archival material.

Precipice: Diarmaid and Gráinne’s Bed. ( Leaba Dhiarmaid agus Gráinne ).The Knife Rock. ( Carraigh na Scine ).

Silver gelatin prints, printed Paris, Guilaume Geneste.   40 x 50 cm

Diarmaid and Gráinne’s Bed. ( Leaba Dhiarmaid agus Gráinne )

The Knife Rock. ( Carraigh na Scine )

Northern Light is the third exhibition at IMMA drawn from the exceptional collection of modern and contemporary photography put together by Dr David Kronn over the past 25 years. The David Kronn Collection is a promised gift to IMMA and comprises more than 1100 photographs ranging in content from 19th-century Daguerreotypes to works by award-winning contemporary photographers.

Northern Light presents work by photographers that examines the history of the conflict in Northern Ireland specifically and places it alongside other contemporaneous events internationally. As the U.K. prepares to leave the European Union in 2021, it is an opportune time to reflect on the shared history of Ireland and the U.K. as 2021 also marks the centenary of the partition of this island and the civil war that ensued. In the hands of such accomplished artists exhibited here, concepts of borders (real or imagined) and the consequences of demarcating territory are engaged with incredible sensitivity and imagination.

The exhibition begins with the present day and sublime images of the landscape; however, these images also hold secrets as various infrastructures, particularly of surveillance, reveal themselves. These are followed by images of landscapes that were sites of atrocities and conflict; the highly aesthetic photographs at odds with their content. Also showing are images that reflect on the impact of conflict on children and civilian communities. While images from the height of the conflict in Northern Ireland offer a salutary reminder of our recent past. The Troubles were photogenic, and problematically so. But what this collection shows us, is that the greatest photographers are precisely the ones who managed to steer clear of voyeurism, of the immediate appeal of the ‘sublime violence’; those who managed to rise in order to express what ran beneath the surface.

Artists include: Abbas, Bill Armstrong, Bruno Barbey, Ian Berry, Gilles Caron, David Farrell, John Hinde, Michael Kenna, Eric Luke, Tony O’Shea, Gilles Peress, Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, Paul Seawright, Arthur Siegel, Rosalind Solomon, Chris Steele Perkins, Amelia Stein, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Donovan Wylie.

Previous exhibitions from the David Kronn Collection are Out of the Dark Room in 2011 and Second Sight in 2014.

THE BLOODS

Portraits of serving and former serving members of the Defence Forces, James Stephens Baracks, Kilkenny, Ireland.

L to R

Recce Platoon Sergeant . Sergeant John Collins, 2019

Nuclear, Biological & Chemical Specialist. No person identified, 2019

Recce Platoon Soldier – Night Vision. Private Oisín Roche, 2019

Archival Pigment Prints, 65cm x 65cm

Plastic Bag 1,  Béal Derig . Edition of 5 . Archival Pigment Print, Bamboo Paper   56 x 45 cm
Plastic Bag 2,  Béal Derig . Edition of 5.  Archival Pigment Print, Bamboo Paper   56 x 45cm

Pool 2, Cill a’Ghallagáin.  Edition of 5 . Archival Pigment Print, Bamboo Paper + Pencil  49×38 cm
Pool 3, Cill a’Ghallagáin.  Edition of 5 . Archival Pigment Print, Bamboo Paper + Pencil  49×38 cm

The nomadic project by Richard Gorman returns to Assab One( Milan, Italy) firstly as on online Exhibition. Other Exhibitions venures were Tokyo (Yanagisawa Gallery), Belfast (Fenderesky Gallery), Dublin (SOFineart Editions). As in the previous exhibitions of 2017, Artists are Richard Gorman and Assab One’s friends. Each Artist showing 4 to 6 two-dimensional works, drawings, photographs, collages, the only restrictions are that the works should be on paper or card with the longest edge around 30 cm. All works have been delivered to Assab One via mail, hence the Title. The onsite exhibition at Assab One will start 8th Sept, 2020, Milan, Italy.

THE BLOODS

Working with members of the Defence Forces from the 3 Inf Bn, based in James Stephens Barracks, Kilkenny, the photographer Amelia Stein has produced a body of work that is both a visual inventory in the medium of traditional black and white photography, and a portrait in time, that seeks to represent the diversity of those men and women who are currently serving or have served within the walls of the Barracks. Highlighting the assortment of skills and diverse employment required to sustain a vibrant military unit and Barracks, this visual exploration was influenced by the work of the photographers August Sander ‘Face of our Time’.

The Handball Alley, within the Barracks, provided a daylight studio and a private space where the portraits were made. A number of visits were arranged over the years from 2015 to 2019, as the project developed and the breath of the work was realised. Military training prepares soldiers to stand with confidence and pride for tasks such as ceremonial duties. This characteristic was brought to the work by each individual who stood before the camera.

The Exhibition, comprising 58 portraits, is titled ‘The Bloods’ the name associated with the 3 Inf Bn. Founded in Donegal, the 3 Inf Bn is the only military unit to have consistently remained on military establishment tables since 1923, and is thus recognised as the oldest and most senior unit of the Defence Forces.

Images portray roles such as the Sniper, Medic, Mechanic, Chef, Piper, Barber, Hurler, Machine Gun Operator and Veteran. Those depicted range from the Commanding Officer and the Sergeant Major, to new Recruits, and include Fionn, the Wolfhound Mascot of ‘The Bloods’ and his Handler. Looking at these images we see the culture of the Defence Forces and are given unique insight of the ‘village behind the wall’ that is James Stephens Barracks; an integral part of Kilkenny City.

In addition to honouring our Defence Forces, this body of work pays tribute to one of the Evans’ Home previous uses as a military barracks and will act as an important opening exhibition for the Butler Gallery at Evans’ Home and for the people of Kilkenny.

Photo © Brian Cregan

Over the last few years, the University College Cork Art Collection has been developed as an active learning resource. The collection has been at the centre of their Classroom Museum initiative and has expanded through acquisitions related to education and curatorial projects.

MOVING SPACES reflects on these instances of learning with an exhibition of new works from the UCC Art Collection that explores how art can inspire and support teaching methods as well as offering the insights of other disciplines into contemporary art practices.

Photo “Laundry”, Archival Pigment Print, Bamboo Paper, 57 x 57 cm, Edition of 10.

Celebrating International Women’s Day, 08/03/2020.

Unveiling of a Series of Photographs, 03/03/2020.

RCSI Art Committee Commission of a Series of Portraits from The Winner of the RCSI Art Award 2018.
A collaboration between photographer Amelia Stein and 9 leading members of the Academic Staff of RCSI.
This body of work portrays Staff who have achieved the distinction of  Professor, Dean or Director at RCSI campus, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland .

These contemporary photographic portraits, undertaken in 2019, are of 9 Women. Leaders in their particular fields of expertise and excellence .
The Portraits constitute the drive towards redressing the Gender Balance by the installation of a series of posthumously painted portraits of Women in Medicine.

Each Woman photographed holds a particular chosen object which defines/ indicates their individual area of Expertise. The portraits were made in the Historic Board Room of RCSI, 123 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.

#WomenInFocus, 2020

PRECIPICE , photographs from the Series .

Archival Pigment Prints,  80x 62.5 cm.

On view in the Public Area of the Civic Centre in Belmulett, Co Mayo, Ireland. 2020

VIEW PRECIPICE