Contrapposto

The website of Irish art critic Cristín Leach Hughes

200 words: on Futures 11

Posted on | October 13, 2011 | No Comments

Alan Butler, Still (7) from Content, 2011.

The Royal Hibernian Academy has made some good choices with its lively pick of four new Futures artists. This is a show bursting with energy.

Alan Butler’s high-impact, rainbow-hued, multimedia installation blends humour with a cynical eye as he investigates consumerism and other contemporary realities. Vera Klute’s anatomically-inspired work includes painted portraits that blink and wink as viewers pass by. Motors whir as body-parts move and internal organs pulsate on small video screens, but Klute’s beautiful, underwater Public Pool drawings have a more meditative quality that is in tune with Barbara Knezevic’s quietly investigative, sculptural work.

Shelia Rennick’s textured oil paintings offer an explosive reaction to a dark, edgy world, while James Merrigan’s multimedia installation, night-knight, chatters like a manic robot in a corner of the room. Each artist displays a keen understanding of their chosen aesthetic, all four share a nuanced fascination with absurdity, and each in their own way asks us to view the world from a new, slightly skewed perspective.

Royal Hibernian Academy, until Sunday 23 October 2011.

Related: All about me? Where next for Ireland’s ‘Futures’ artists?

Category: 200 words, Group shows
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