Causing A Commotion | August 2010 | Dublin 4

August arrived and with it a new space for PrettyvacanT Dublin

Sandymount in Dublin 4 was to be our new home for a few months.  Our new building was a raw urban space with exposed brick walls and a concrete floor. It was perfect:  a blank canvas to display the work.

Group exhibition Causing a Commotion brought together the talents of four artists: Stephanie Barnes, Dónal Deery, No!dea (Declan Greaney) and Sarah Morshead.

From the start, we knew we wanted an exhibition that would provoke, excite and stir the senses. We wanted to see routines broken and patterns disturbed, and we wanted artwork displaying urgency, turmoil, agility and energy. Our artists delivered.

Barnes combined familiar and seemingly simple materials such as wool, card and found objects, but in a break from the norm, asked the audience to engage with the 3D structures more freely. And so Barnes created a space that awakened a physical awareness.

Deery’s work comprised seven large text panels. Entitled ‘38,056’, the title referred to said number of words, stripped and transposed from a dictionary. Removed and re-contextualised, the words were given new meaning through an alternative environment. We were impressed by the sheer scale of the work.

Artist No!dea introduced us to  'Floaters' - 96 painted drawings of disembodied heads levitating above their own shadow. These drawings were on doctors’ prescriptions and medical certificates.  Floaters dealt with our need to find the quick fix for our problems. It was edgy, comic and acerbic.

Morshead’s large scale canvases comprised confident brush strokes and sweeping bold colours.  The sense of urgency captured in the work reflected the spontaneity of Morshead’s approach.

Stephanie Barnes and Dónal Deery studied at Sligo IT and Limerick IT respectively before transferring to the National College of Art & Design to complete their degree. They both graduated from the Fine Art Department at the National College of Art & Design Dublin in 2010.

No!dea (Declan Greaney) has been painting for 20 years and has shown work in Temple Bar Gallery, Oisin Gallery and Ardgillan Castle.

Sarah Morshead has exhibited widely since attaining a degree in painting from University of Northumbria including a solo show at the Signal Arts Centre, Bray in 2009.

Causing a Commotion was featured The Dubliner and in the University of Arts London Alumni Bulletin.