A group show featuring work selected and reviewed by recent interns and volunteers at the Olivier Cornet Gallery

In December 2022, the gallery introduced a new feature to encourage its interns and volunteers, mainly art history students, to write about their favourite artworks showcased in the gallery’s stockroom. These reviews are then published on the Olivier Cornet Gallery’s website alongside images of the work. This mid-summer exhibition will feature all of these works accompanied by the text created by this new generation of future art historians and cultural workers.

…The title of this work, Passport Tents, conjures up an atmosphere of tension, turmoil and loss. Here the passport motif represents a temporary shelter. For those not in possession of one, the ability to shelter oneself from crisis is vastly hindered by the fact that a safe escape is not possible. The passport, for many, is the key for safe travel and refuge in times of violence and uncertainty. Without one, the chances of refuge diminish, leading people to take desperate measures to flee the danger. These clinical rows of international passports symbolise those individuals who have sought asylum, the personal stories behind them and the ways in which they have been let down…

Mary-Rose Porter, from her write-up about Miriam McConnon’s ‘Passport Tents’

…For me, ‘Fischkopp mit Zerrewanst’ by Susanne Wawra represents both the encapsulation of a moment and the complex process of remembering that point in time. Memory provides a means of fluidity and change, a way to fundamentally abstract and reinterpret (whether knowingly or unknowingly) a distinctive event. Her amalgamation of photo transfer and painted elements in a finely-tuned colour palette establish a highly unique and captivating sense of liveliness which amplifies the wistful sentimentality of a captured moment.

Genevieve Rust, from her write-up about Susanne Wawra ‘s Fischkopp mit Zerrewanst’

…Despite being aesthetically attracted to the piece, I was particularly drawn to its meaning. Titularly, Mary discerned the innocent and pure connotations of ‘Lamb’, evoking fragility and newness. ‘Tongue’ however, to me, excites activity and pace. The two appear paradoxical and consequently open themselves up to multiple interpretations. When read in the curatorial context of the Bloomsday exhibition, Mary is perhaps suggesting that the impressionable and young are perceived, by agents of censorship, as being invited to participate in perceived obscenity; although this is only alleged impropriety and is essentially just an exercise of autonomy and creativity…

Maisie Greener, from her write up-about Mary A. Fitzgerald’s ‘Lamb’s Tongue’.

Artworks in this exhibition by Annika Berglund, Hugh Cummins, Gerald Davis, Mary A. Fitzgerald, Jordi Forniés, Conrad Frankel, David Fox, Nickie Hayden, Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Miriam McConnon, Mark Newman, Sheila Naughton, Yanny Petters, Kelly Ratchford, Vicky Smith and Susanne Wawra.

Olivier would like to thank all interns and volunteers for their work at the gallery and for their special contribution as writers and co-curators to this exhibition:

Lisa Brero, Maisie Greener, Charlotte Lang, Eduardo Pinheiro, Mary Rose Porter, Genevieve Rust, Natalia Sikora, Zoe Thomas, Yeva Veber & Joshua Walls.

The exhibition, which will run until the 27 August 2023, will also allow collectors to acquire important works from our collection at a discounted price, a special offer only valid for the duration of the show.

PS: As this exhibition will mark my return to the gallery after a short absence due to spinal surgery, I would love to see you at the opening on the 13th of July to celebrate with me, my artists, and volunteers/interns.