Born in Galway in 1955, now Dublin and Berlin based, Cecily Brennan has been exhibiting since the late 1970s and making art about pain for decades. Her exhibition, ‘Pressure’, at the Glucksman Gallery, pulls together several major works from the last twenty-five years, taking a laws-of-physics-style view of the theme: pain as a form of energy or force, and – in what feels like a neat nod to Newton’s third law of motion, pairing actions with equal and opposite reactions – pressure as a form of pain. It’s a theme rich in potential interpretations and one that has long been present in Brennan’s practice.
To read this article in full, subscribe or buy this edition of the Irish Arts Review
Cristín Leach explores Cecily Brennan’s survey exhibition, finding in her work a darkness that transforms as well as afflicts
Christian Dupont uncovers Belfast artist Eva McKee’s vision for achieving aesthetic resonance through Celtic patterns and Art Nouveau styling
Isabella Evangelisti views the work of Sri Lankan artist Anushiya Sundaralingam and finds in it hope and courage
Christina Kennedy considers artist Fergus Feehily’s recent exhibition, ‘Fortune House’