Press release 28/8/2017
Inspiration and Rivalry: After Vermeer
New work by Brian Fay, Dragana Jurisic and Maser
2 – 17 September 2017
National Gallery of Ireland, Millennium Wing Studio
Admission free
Opening in the National Gallery of Ireland’s Millennium Wing Studio is Inspiration and Rivalry: After Vermeer, a display of contemporary work by artists Brian Fay, Dragana Jurisic and Maser, created in response to the current exhibition Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry.
Curated by Sinéad Kathy Rice, Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland, this project invited three contemporary practitioners working in three very different art forms, often in three different locations, to engage with the Vermeer exhibition and produce new work in response. The display features drawings, photographic work and an installation piece, and will open to the public from Saturday 2 September to Sunday 17 September 2017. Admission is free.
A short documentary and a series of public engagement activities will support the exhibition.
#AfterVermeer
Notes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
Brian Fay: Brian Fay’s practice is rooted in drawing and he uses the materiality of pre-existing artworks and objects to examine their complex relationship to time. His work is in the National Drawing Collection Ireland, and the collections of the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, the Dublin Institute of Technology, Office of Public Works Irish State Collection and private collections. Fay holds a PhD from Northumbria University, England, and lectures in Fine Art at the Dublin Institute of Technology. He is the winner of the 2014 Derwent International Drawing Prize and the AXA Drawing Prize 2016. For more info: www.brianfayartist.com
Dragana Jurisic: Dragana Jurisic was born in Slavonski Brod, Croatia (then Yugoslavia). Based in Dublin, Ireland, Jurisic works in photography using “the act of photographing, of looking at the world through the camera lens, to help provide a semblance of control over an otherwise unpredictable world”. In 2009, she was selected as an Axis MAstar, “an annual selection of the most promising artists from the UK’s leading MA courses”. She obtained her PhD from the European Centre for Photographic Research, Wales in 2013 and has since received, among other accolades, Special Recognition by Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor Prize, the Emerging Visual Artist Award, residencies in Dublin and Paris and most recently a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. For more info: www.draganajurisic.com
Maser: Maser’s career began in 1995, painting graffiti on the streets of Dublin. After studying Visual Communication, he went on to establish himself as one of Ireland’s leading visual artists working in the urban environment, spending a two-year artist residency in the US, before settling in London. Most recently, Maser opened his solo show Foreign Language at Graphic Studio Gallery in Dublin, following Orbiting on the Periphery at Lazarides Gallery in London and an installation at the Palais de Tokyo Gallery in Paris. His large scale mural work and collaborations with artists such as musician Damien Dempsey, JR, Conor Harrington, and Fintan Magee have won him notoriety in the graffiti world while helping establish him in the contemporary art scene. For more info: www.maserart.com
EXHIBITIONS CONTINUING
The current exhibition, Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry, is now in its last few weeks (ends 17 September) and has already attracted over 70,000 visitors. The inspiration and rivalry that occurred between Vermeer and the masters of the Dutch Golden Age is a core theme addressed within the major exhibition. Artists practicing at the same time but often in different cities drew inspiration from each other’s work and then tried to surpass it in terms of technical prowess and aesthetic appeal, resulting in vibrant relationships which stimulated the artists of the 17th Century.
Ticket slots will book out very quickly in the remaining weeks. Advance booking is recommended.