Angela Griffith appraises Paul MacCormaic’s painting of Lucky Khambule, this year’s winner of the Ireland–U.S. Council and Irish Arts Review Portraiture Award
Lucky Khambule sits with an air of calm confidence as he looks directly at us, the viewer. We are seated opposite the sitter, at eye level, and his demeanour, expressed through his body language, is open, welcoming and prepared. He is ready for a conversation; he is, in fact, inviting a conversation. Furthermore, we are aware that we are in his space. We have entered his home, an apartment in Co Wicklow. The artist has captured his sitter’s physical presence in a photorealistic manner: nuances of light and shade detail his form, his skin tone and facial features. Khambule dominates the brightly lit space, the straining tension of clothing pulled across the body, expertly rendered, expressing the sitter’s inner strength.
Rachel Thomas interviews Richard Malone, an artist who works across the media of sculpture, fashion and performance, pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture.
Hilary Pyle recalls the artist Hilda Roberts, two-time winner of the RDS Taylor Art Award, whose talents were apparent from an early age
Aidan Dunne visits the survey exhibition of painter Richard Gorman at the Hugh Lane Gallery
