The Sleep of Reason Exhibit, Crawford Art Gallery

I got soaked to the skin, but regardless of my moist state I said I should dive out of the rain. I sloshed into the Cork library and decided to finish American Gods, but of course I had forgotten it. In my tired boredom I flipped through a free Cork newspaper, which was terrible of course, but it did have a piece about a new exhibition at the Crawford Art Gallery. So with nothing better to do I braved the rain, and got a little more wet (if possible) and made my way to the Crawford Art Galley to see The Sleep of Reason Exhibit. I was so glad I did because it was the highlight of my day.

I moved through the poorly planned galley that is so poorly planned I cannot describe but by the time I actually found the exhibit I was in the middle of the exhibit rather than starting at the planned beginning. I struggled on anyways and found it really was a great exhibit with an eclectic mix of pieces to keep one both interested and entertained. Art is anything that provokes a reaction by some people, but I also believe it should be entertaining!

Yvanna Greene’s two pieces in this exhibit both have something to do with the environment, crazy consumerism and the waste we produce. Both pieces have a similar small rectangular box motif that is very interesting. However both the pieces are very much the same in that they have a pile of rectangular shapes at the bottom with the missing parts at the bottom. Pretty they are in the organised chaos, but I struggle to understand the overall difference when they both have the same message and general look.

Amanda Dunsmore’s video portrait of Martin McGuiness was something that captivated me for quite a long time, hence the long time spent in the video. In painting portraiture of the past, the sitter would have to sit still for hours whilst the painter did his work, this was even the same with the original photographic pictures which formed extremely slowly. Today the effort in taking a portrait photo is almost non-existant, just one small button press. This video portrait is almost a call back to the times of the past but also creates a living portrait. He blinks, he breathes, he moves a little. It’s very interesting to view.

The final pieces I will talk about is Maggie Madden’s “Detritus of Contemporary Life”. An almost fungus of used packaging begins on the bottom floor of the exhibit and grows up the wall through to other rooms and up to the next floor. Viewing the piece in its entirety requires that you climb some stairs and move from room to room, but this only aids in emphasising how what a plague all the packaging has become. I still loved the Mac Pro nestled in there though, it can do no harm!

There are many pieces which I haven’t talked about and aren’t in the video I took either, but there all worth seeing. The collection has every kind of media in it, no one will be left out. An extensive mix of artists and subject matter, entertaining and thought provoking. Definitely worth a visit if you’ve got a spare hour on a lazy wet, or dry, weekend.

Tags: Art, Crawford Art Gallery, Exhibition